Bargarh: With focus on western Odisha, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Sunday made a marathon tour of three districts – Bargarh, Nuapada and Kalahandi – on the occasion of Panchayati Raj Diwas and birth anniversary of legendary leader Biju Patnaik.
He inaugurated the Biju Expressway and also laid the foundation stones of 86 projects and inaugurated as many as 149 projects worth Rs 217 crore at Sohela in Odisha’s Bargarh district and inaugurated projects worth Rs 2100 crore in Kalahandi district.
The Opposition BJP and Congress, however, phooh-phoohed the development plank of the ruling BJD as a misnomer. “Seven years have since he announced Rs 35,000 crore for the development of Western Odisha but not a single developmental project has been taken up and executed,” BJP leader Pradeep Purohit, adding that people were not happy with the CM’s visit.
He said that the main objective behind the CM’s visit was to garner more votes by misleading the people.
While Naveen participated in a road show on the Biju Expressway from Ghens to Sohela and termed the expressway as the lifeline of the western Odisha during a rally at Sohela in Bargarh district, Purohit stressed that all bridges on it have been constructed by the Centre. The problems of the farmers too persist, he added.
Senior Congress leader Narasingha Mishra also hit out at the CM for his alleged lack of awareness about what really development means. “Education is essential for growth of a state or nation. In Odisha, schools are running without teachers. The government has just refurbished those, but it has nothing to do with education. There is a need to recruit teachers at good salaries.”
He further said that education has been the most neglected sector in Odisha. “Naveen Babu is adept in winning elections. He has done a PhD on how to win elections through propaganda,” he said.
Narasingha further said that the CM in 2006 had said that 35% land in all blocks will be brought under irrigation in five years. “It is 2023 now and has this promise been executed? In 2008, he promised to provide Rs 5 lakh to villages where 35% land are not under irrigation. Has a single village provided the promised amount? His announced establishment of second agriculture university in KBK region in 2014 and it is nowhere in sight till now. He also fooled people on establishment a bench of high court in western Odisha. In 2009, he announced free electricity to all farmer. The government has instead increased the power tariff,” he said, adding that the list of ‘broken promises’ is long.
