Mahanadi river. Telegraph picture

Sonepur, Jan. 20: Chief minister Naveen Patnaik today laid the foundation for embankment and construction of the ring road along the banks of the river Mahanadi here. The ring road will not only decongest traffic in the city but also prevent floods.

A joint venture of the state water resource and road and building (R&B) departments, the embankment and the road constructions will be done over a length of 5.1 km on the right banks of Mahanadi from the bridge over the river to the bridge over river Tel. The project is being executed at an estimated cost of Rs21.74 crore.

Addressing a public meeting at Gandhi ground, Naveen said his government was taking care of the overall development of the state. “We are trying to ensure all-round development of our state. The farmers are being given utmost importance and their problems are being looked at sensibly. We intend to uplift the socio-economic status of the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes. We have decided to distribute cycles to school going SC and ST students,” Naveen said.

He inaugurated the office buildings of superintendent of police, regional transport office and reserve police. He also inaugurated Swarnatoya Cric Fete, the silver jubilee edition of the All India Lalmoney Cricket Tournament.

Talking about the embankment and road project, executive engineer of Balangir irrigation division Naresh Nayak said it would not only act as flood control measure, but also minimise traffic hazards.