The delayed projects of second Brahmani bridge and IGH super specialty hospital will be a major poll in the coming elections with the BJP facing the heat.
Though elections are still 4-5 months away but the second Brahmani bridge issue has already been in talk here. While the BJP continues to cut a sorry figure over the issues since they were promised by PM Narendra Modi at Rourkela, young activist Muktikanta Biswal who spearheaded a campaign to meet the PM
and later to CM Naveen Patnaik for expediting the delayed projects has begun to earn much sympathy.
It may be noted here that Biswal had walked all through to Delhi from the steel city to meet and remind the Prime Minister Narendra Modi of his promises he had made during his maiden visit to here as Prime Minister on April 1, 2015. During his visit three years back, the PM had announced for construction of a second bridge over the Brahmani river near Panposh and upgrading the Ispat General Hospital (IGH) to a medical college and super specialty hospital.
But despite the declaration of the PM, both the projects which have much importance for Rourkela as well as for entire Sundargarh district did not get any momentum for a long period. Due to inordinate delay, senior BJP leader and Rourkela MLA Dilip Ray (as both the projects are his dream and also his commitment to the denizens of Rourkela during 2014 election campaign) has not only expressed his dissatisfaction on many occasions but also has been disassociating himself from party programmes for last couple of years.
Even he has threatened to launch an agitation on many occasions. Amid a hue and cry, on July 21, 2017, Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways, Shipping and Water Resources Nitin Gadkari had laid foundation stone for the second Brahmani bridge with a declaration that the construction work will begin in 15 days. But, despite this, the work was not started for months together and finally Biswal decided to meet the PM to remind him of his announcement and started walking to Delhi on April 16.
Covering more than 1,350 km on foot he reached Delhi on June 27 morning.
But in Delhi, Biswal met Sundargarh BJP MP and Union Tribal Affairs Minister Jual Oram first, seeking his help to meet the PM. But instead of showing cooperation, Oram outright turned down his request saying that there is no need of meeting the PM as the construction work for the second bridge had already started and works for super specialty in burn and plastic surgery department of IGH had already been initiated. Besides, Oram said he smelt political conspiracy in Biswal’s activity which has triggered sharp reactions in Sundargarh, particularly in Rourkela. Not only that, the BJP local leaders holding a Press briefing here, tried to put Biswal in dock alleging that his move was politically biased and unnecessary as the construction work of the bridge is in motion.
But after returning from Delhi with empty hands Biswal visited the work site to verify the ground reality. There he observed that the work has started only for name’s sake. Briefing the same to mediapersons here, he trekked to Bhubaneswar in the month of July to meet the CM requesting him to intervene in the matter.
At that time BJP had ridiculed Muktikanta as a political agent once again. But the ground reality is the construction work of the bridge is held up and the company had already left the construction site. Even the security personnel are not seen in the site. From this it is understood that only to diminish the allegation and efforts of Muktikanta and divert the attention of the people the work was started.
Consequently, the Brahmani bridge issue will be hitting the ground once again and boomerang for the BJP, especially for Oram, said the observers here.
