Smt Nandini Satpathy Memorial Trust (SNSMT) chairman Suparno Satpathy has urged the Union Government to change its decision of putting the proposed expansion of National Highway 55 from Cuttack to Angul via Dhenkanal under the build, operate and transfer (BOT) status.
“The road from Manguli via Dhenkanal and Angul till Sambalpur needed upgradation since the early 90s. However, giving it a BOT marking will burden the commuters to pay a toll for the same. This is a backward rural grant notified zone and this zone houses a large number of economically strained people and further burdening them by giving a road usage charge is not a good idea,” said Satpathy.
Recently, the Union Cabinet has approved the four laning of the road from Cuttack to Angul via Dhenkanal with a budgetary allocation of `1,550 crore.