Cuttack: With both ruling BJD and opposition Congress engaged in blame game for doing little to include the Millennium city in the ambitious central government Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewable Mission (JNNURM) project, the issue holds centrestate in this constituency.
Noted cardio-thoracic surgeon Ramaraman Sarangi contesting from Cuttack-Barabati Assembly segment on coconut symbol has blamed both BJD and Congress for neglecting the old city.
"Inclusion in JNNURM would have brought a sea change in improving the crumbling urban infrastructure of the old capital city of the state," said Sarangi, who has been providing health services here along with his gynaecologist wife Sarojini for last three decades.
The flagship central government project, launched in 2005 to improve the urban infrastructure of at least 60 cities in the country, had included Puri and Bhubaneswar in it.
A series of agitations had taken place in Cuttack during those days to bring the city under the ambit of JNNURM.
The nine-year-long mission however ended on March 31 this year.