Bhubaneswar, Nov. 14: Chief minister Naveen Patnaik today took just two hours and 25 minutes to inaugurate eight projects and laid foundation stones of six more across the city.

Naveen, on the second day of his pre-poll inauguration spree, however, did not find time to communicate with people, who were waiting for nearly an hour to have a glimpse of him and hand over grievances.

“I have my wishes for the chief minister. He is doing a lot of work for the city. But, I am disheartened as he did not speak to us,” said Manjubala Pradhan, 67, of Nayapalli Brit Colony.

Local MLA (Bhubaneswar Central) Badal Mohanty, however, said: “Hundreds of people came forward to see the chief minister. He accepted the written grievances of all those who had approached him. Our priority is that there should be no grievance. People’s work should be done in time.”

During his whirlwind tour across the city, Naveen today inaugurated three renovated parks — Sishu Udyan at Unit-II and two other parks at Nayapalli Brit Colony and Acharya Vihar.

Sishu Udyan, rebuilt by the Bhubaneswar Development Authority, was the oldest children’s park in the city. On November 14, 1984, the then housing and urban development minister, Basant Kumar Biswal, inaugurated the park. But since the early 90s, the facility had been lying neglected with parts of it under encroachment. The Telegraph did a story on the park’s sorry state of affairs on February 22, 2011.

Though the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation had built the park in 1984, in 2011, the housing and urban development department decided to ask the development authority to rebuild the facility.

Chief horticulturist (in-charge) of the Bhubaneswar Development Authority Ashok N. Dhar said: “As there are schools situated near the park, our focus is on kids, especially the schoolchildren. We are also thinking about a way in which we can let children can access it in the afternoon as well.”

“The development authority spent around Rs 20 lakh to have a walking track, rides for children and sitting arrangements for elders. Besides, we have an exclusive corner for the elderly as it is seen that the elderly also accompany kids to the park,” Dhar said.

Besides, the Nayapalli park, developed by the authority for Rs 17 lakh, has also more or less the same facilities. The corporation developed the Acharya Vihar park, which houses children rides, walking tracks and sitting arrangements, for Rs 20 lakh.

The chief minister today also laid the foundation stone for renovation of a damaged portion of the natural drainage channel No. 6 at Chintamaniswar. Jali gali, as it is popularly known, has turned into a death trap after Phailin. The Telegraph had carried a story on its damaged iron cages on the street posing threat to pedestrians.

Staring his whirlwind tour at 10.35am, Naveen first laid the foundation stone of a 100-bed medical facility for mother and child on the Capital Hospital premise. “The three-storey structure will come up between gynaecology and paediatrics departments,” said Capital Hospital director S.C. Mallick.

He also laid the foundation stone of a fruit market at Unit-II Market Building. The civic body will develop the centrally air-conditioned market with 26 shops each on three floors for Rs 1.9 crore.

Moreover, he inaugurated two street lighting projects worth Rs 58 lakh and Rs 8 lakh, respectively, between Power House Square and Stewart School, Damana Square and DAV School Chandrasekharpur.

Naveen inaugurated underground water reservoirs and also laid the foundation stone of an annex building for Jayadev Bhavan.