In shambles

Bhubaneswar, Feb. 27: In a bid to draw political mileage from Opposition parties, chief minister Naveen Patnaik today wrote to the Union minister for transport, shipping and national highways T.R. Baalu seeking help for repairing the NH-215.

Naveen stated in the letter that the masses of the state were facing difficulties in commuting through the 90.6-km stretch of the NH-215 between Keonjhar and Roxy.

The condition is such that it had triggered public resentment. CPM MLA from Bonai Laxman Munda has launched fast-unto-death demanding immediate repair of the highway.

The chief minister has urged the Union minister to approve a revised cost estimate sent to his ministry to start the repair and take steps to restore its condition immediately.

The ruling BJD-BJP alliance has a lot of political stake in the region as the allies represent a number of seats in the Assembly. Already CPM’s Bonai MLA Laxman Munda has grabbed political mileage by staging a dharna before the chief minister’s residence since February 25.

CPM activists have been staging blockades at places across Sundargarh since the past three days. Eighteen party activists have been arrested for the protests.

The agitators have accused the state and the Union governments of neglecting repairs. “The government extracts crores of rupees in form of toll from the area but does not bother to spend on repairing the highway,” lamented Munda.