A group of young activists, alleging that Bhograi BJD MLA Ananta Das was creating a hurdle in the construction of a DRDO (Defence Research and Development Organisation) road, warned of launching a dharana before Das’s house, if he didn’t address the issue.
The group led by Bikram Panda said that the construction of road of around 10-km stretch from the Tamulia bridge to Chandipur while is under progress and almost on the verge of completion, yet a patch of land owned by the former Minister which falls on the route has emerged as a major hurdle. As Das is neither leaving the land nor taking any compensation, the road construction work could not be carried out, they alleged. “Several acres of private land have been acquired by the DRDO for the construction of the road. Yet, unfortunately, the patch belonging to Das couldn’t be acquired.
About 10 decimal of land may be required from his portion,” they told. Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik while is batting for development of the State, his own party MLA is creating obstruction. As a result, the work is halted, they alleged further.
“If he doesn’t cooperate in sorting out the issue after two weeks, we would embark on a dharana in front of his residence in Baleswar town,” threatened Panda. According reports, the Defence road construction is required as the DRDO is facing difficulties to mobilise heavy machinery and other equipment.
Currently, these vehicles and equipment ply through Baleswar town which is not at all hassle free. The road after completion would give a seamless movement of vehicles of mainly PXE (Proof and experimental establishment) and ITR (Integrated test range), a missile testing unit of DRDO.
Further, the State Government has a proposal of constructing a ring road around town. The proposal is the road of around 12 km would join the DRDO road and the total road would be around 30 km.