Rourkela sculptor Muktikanta Biswal who reached Delhi on Wednesday after 70 days of walk and met Union Tribal Affairs Minister Jual Oram was left rather dejected as he felt the response from Oram was not very encouraging.
Muktikanta is now camping at the Jagannath temple at New Delhi and waiting to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi to remind him of his two promises made during his visit to Rourkela.
He said that if he does not get appointment with the Prime Minister, he will stage a protest.
Significantly, Biswal (29), who is an idol maker by profession, took a challenging decision to walk down from Rourkela to New Delhi to remind PM of his promises to the Rourkelites. Accordingly, he started his walk from Rourkela on April 16 and after a journey of 70 days on foot, he reached New Delhi on Tuesday and met Union Tribal Affairs Minister and Sundargarh MP Jual Oram at his residence on Wednesday.
But Oram reportedly told Biswal that he should not have come to New Delhi as both Brahmani bridge work and super specialty hospital work at Rourkela have already started.
Oram further told that him that he is Congress sponsored as Rahul Gandhi is supporting him. Biswal reportedly told Oram to help him to meet Prime Minister, but the latter told him that arranging a meeting with the Prime Minister was not in his hand.
"The response I got from Minister Oram is really very depressing for me. I was not expecting such answers from him.
I have given in writing to the Prime Minister's Office for giving me an appointment to meet Modi but the PMO has told me that the process for meeting the Prime Minister will take at least 15 days. I am now camping at the Jagannath temple at New Delhi and if within next three days, I am not getting an appointment, I will stage a protest here." Biswal added.
Significantly, Congress president Rahul Gandhi had tweeted while Biswal was on his way to New Delhi affirming his party’s support for him.
Significantly, PM Modi, while addressing a public meeting on April 1, 2015, had assured the Rourkela public that his Government would take necessary initiative to fulfil two much awaited demands of Rourkela, such as upgradation of the Ispat General Hospital to a super specialty hospital and construction of a second bridge over the Brahmani river.
Meanwhile, after much hue and cry, the construction work of the second bridge over the Brahmani has started recently.