Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Thursday inaugurated 17 developmental projects, including the Sohela-Nuapada stretch of Biju Expressway that has been constructed at a cost of Rs 455.66 crore. He also said that a cancer hospital would be established in Bargarh district as has been demanded since long by local people.
Attending a mega farmers’ conclave at Ichhapali, the CM inaugurated the projects worth Rs 515 crore including the Sohela-Nuapada road of Biju Expressway. The other projects included two maternity and child care units at the Padampur Sub-Divisional Hospital and the Barpali Community Health Centre (CHC), two piped drinking water supply projects in Atabira and Sohela blocks, three new Aahaar centres at Barpali, Atabira and Sohela and a bridge over the Danta river in Bheden block.
Besides, Patnaik laid foundation-stones for 32 developmental projects worth over Rs 1495 crore. One of the major schemes is the Gangadhar Meher Lift Irrigation Project, to be constructed at a cost of Rs 1,340.55 crore, which would provide irrigation facilities to 25,600 hectares of land in Bijepur, Sohela and Barpali blocks.
On the occasion, Patnaik also disbursed financial assistance of Rs 5,000 to around 13 lakh small and marginal farmers identified in the second-phase beneficiaries’ list of the KALIA scheme.
