Bhubaneswar: Chief minister Naveen Patnaik on Thursday inaugurated the much-awaited Gurupriya bridge that would connect 151 villages in Malkangiri's "cut-off" area, a known Maoist bastion, with the district's mainland.

The 910m-long bridge with a width of 8.4m was planned in 1986, but could not be completed due to the reluctance of contractors who feared Maoist attack.

The Rs 187.25-crore project took off in 2014 with two platoons of BSF standing guard at the site round the clock.

The BSF had set up special camps in the region to facilitate the work, while the Central Road Research Institute conducted third party audit for quality check.

Dedicating the project to the people, Naveen called upon the Maoists to join the mainstream and take the road to development.

"Violence is not the solution to anything. Peace is important for development," he said.

"The word cut-off is now history," Naveen said while assuring that he would personally evaluate the development projects in the area. He announced a package of Rs 100 crore for the development of the region.

While he inaugurated the project, around six platoons of forces, including personnel the BSF and the District Voluntary Force and the Special Operations Group, stood guard.

The "cut-off area', which got disconnected from the mainland after construction of the Machhkund reservoir in the 60s and Balimela reservoir in the 80's, had been a safe Maoist haven due to its inaccessibility.

Those who lived in the far-flung areas depended on boats to come over to the mainland. The Maoists had stalled construction of the bridge as it would have hampered their activities in the area that they considered as their "liberated zone".

Tenders for the project in the area did not evoke responses for the fear of Maoists.

"#GurupriyaSetu signifies a resurgent #Odisha, will transform lives in 151 villages that were cut-off for 5 decades. It is not just a bridge, it will be the identity & Swabhiman of #Malkangiri. I dedicate this special project to people of #Odisha & India #JaiJagannath," tweeted Naveen shortly after the inauguration.

The region had remained a Maoist haunt for the past several years.

In the Balimela reservoir, 32 elite Greyhound Commandos from Andhra Pradesh and one constable of Orissa police were killed in a Maoist ambush near Alampekka on June 19, 2008, as the motorboat the team was travelling in sunk following grenade attacks by rebels.

The cut-off area gained further notoriety in February 2011 when the Maoists abducted the then Malkangiri collector R. Vineel Krishna from the area.

Works minister Prafulla Mallick said: "The bridge will act as a lifeline for 30,000 people as they all will get connected with the rest of the district."

The chief minister's office claimed that Naveen had received unprecedented national recognition for dedicating the Gurupriya bridge.

"With over 11,000 tweets nationwide, both Gurupriya and Malkangiri have become trending topics on Twitter and are dominating news in the digital space," it said.

Additional reporting by Priyadarshini Patnaik from Malkangiri