BHUBANESWAR: BJD organisational secretary and the ruling party candidate for Sambalpur Lok Sabha seat Pranab Prakash Das hit back at his BJP counterpart Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan accusing him of not doing enough for completing the NH-55 between Sambalpur and Cuttack, which continues to be in a precarious condition for years together.
Taking the fight to Pradhan, Das, in a post on X claimed that more than 400 people have lost their lives in over 200 accidents on the road in the last 10 years. “Whose inefficiency has led to such a huge number of accidents and who is responsible for this,” he asked.
Das stated that though Pradhan has been a union minister for the last 10 years, repair work of the NH-55 could not be completed. “You are a Union minister, but repair work has not been completed on a single stretch of the NH. Whose failure is this,” he questioned.
“You have made the life of the people of Sambalpur miserable and they are aware about the long list of your failures. How will you face the people of Sambalpur? The people will teach you a lesson in the coming election,” he added.
Countering Das, BJP MLA from Rengali Nauri Nayak said the all- round failure of the state government cannot be hidden. People are deprived of minimum amenities like drinking water, hospitals and roads, he said and added that patiets face difficulties in reaching nearby hospitals as there are no roads from their villages. People fall into open drains in Cuttack; jaundice and cholera are spreading in Sambalpur and Rourkela towns, he said.