Senior BJP leader and Rourkela MlA Dilip Ray met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi and discussed a wide range of issues concerning Odisha.
Ahead of the most crucial event of Nabakalebar of Shri Jagannath, he apprised Modi on the preparations made by the State Administration, the inadequacies in the preparations and the cooperation needed from the Centre in this regard.
As there is going to be a huge assemblage of people in the holy city and almost 5 million people are likely to congregate there from across the world, it is going to be a massive challenge from the management point of view. He drew the attention of the Prime Minister to the condition of roads in the city of Puri and the developments needed to be made, the present capacity of hotels and the required strength by the time of Nabakalebar, the need for building sanitation infrastructure and medical facility, incomplete Puri-Bhubaneswar road and the problems of traffic management. Considering the State Government’s sluggish pace of work, the possibility of a satisfactory level of preparation appears remote. Hence, he requested the Prime Minister to address the problems proactively.
He requested Modi to set up a 250 bed makeshift army hospital to act as a standby to avoid possible health disasters, including epidemics in the light of the recent jaundice scare in the State, ensure personal supervision by a Central Government Ministry of the road and flyover works , especially the widening of work of the Puri-Bhubaneswar road, run special trains to Puri and Bhubaneswar as these two cities are well connected to different parts of India, increase frequency of flights, introduce new flight routes and build temporary accommodations with adequate toilet for poor people.
He urged the Prime Minister to kindly consider the demands as the successful organization of the mega event depends on the comfortable journey and staying of pilgrims.
Ray also raked up the issue of up-gradation of the Rourkela airstrip owned by SAIl to a full-fledged airport as development of western Odisha was lagging due
to lack of diversified industrial growth.
Absence of an airport acts as a deterrent for entrepreneurs to set up plants in the city. As the Airport Authority of India (AAI) had found the airstrip eligible by all standards for up-gradation, he urged the intervention of the Prime Minister to address the issue, said Ray.