Cuttack, Aug 31: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik today said that his government is committed to bringing about all round development of Cuttack city.
However, this announcement did nothing to please the Opposition parties who were irked as no new project was announced for Cuttack city. Around 80 BJP workers were taken into preventive custody for staging a protest at Gaurishankar Park and few other places while observing “Black Day” today.
Earlier in the day, while laying the foundation stone for an art gallery, Naveen said that Cuttack, being the commercial hub, has a huge potential for tourism as the historic Barabati fort and birth place of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose (now converted into a museum) are located here.
Conservation work for the Barabati fort has already begun. .
“The state government has a lot of programmes for the development of Cuttack city. An integrated sewerage under the JICA project is under way and it would solve the perennial problems of the city. The project will be complete by 2014,” Naveen said.
Highlighting the huge potential for tourism, the chief minister said that adequate measures were also being undertaken to explore the river front development to attract tourists. IIT Kharagpur has already submitted a blueprint of an integrated development plan for Cuttack city, which includes traffic management and drainage systems. Naveen also said that special measures would be undertaken to rehabilitate slum dwellers.
However, BJP nagar committee president Nayan Ranjan Prasad vented his anger at the Cuttack Municipal Corporation (CMC).
He said: “The CMC has not undertaken any development work. Many areas are still facing problems due to waterlogging and issues related to sanitation.” The CPI (M) also criticised the BJD government for not announcing a single project for the people of the city. “The BJD government has betrayed the people of the Millennium City as a not a single project was announced for the city whereas a number of welfare projects were announced by BMC,” said CPI (M) leader Subhas Singh. According to Singh, be it sanitation or dealing with dengue, the CMC has failed miserably to address such issues.
