CUTTACK: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Monday, December 20, 2021, inaugurated T-Setu, the State’s longest bridge over Mahanadi in Cuttack district. The 3.4 km long bridge, connecting Gopinathpur in Badamba, Baideswar in Banki to Singhanath Pitha located in the middle of the river, has been built in the shape of English alphabet ‘T’ at a cost of Rs 111 crore. The bridge, which has a footpath of 1.5 metre width on its both sides, will benefit people of Cuttack and Khurda and reduce the distance between Badamba and Baideswar in Banki by 45 km.
The 7.5 metre wide bridge will facilitate communication for around five lakh people of the nearby localities besides improving agriculture, business and tourism activities in and around the area. It will also benefit devotees visiting Baba Singhanath’s Bali Makar Jatra in Badamba block. Every year, the State government builds a 3-km long fair weather road (pedestrian track) on the Mahanadi river bed at a cost of Rs 14- Rs15 lakh to facilitate communication for devotees. The road gets washed away during rainy season.
The bridge was a long-standing demand of locals. The Chief Minister had laid the foundation stone for the bridge on February 28, 2014. However, due to some technical issues, the construction work was delayed and commenced in 2018. Of the five bridges so far built over Mahanadi river, the T-Bridge is the longest. Naveen took a walk on the bridge after inaugurating it.
Meanwhile, around 100 BJP and Congress workers were arrested by police while they were staging demonstrations in Banki against Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik’s visit to the area. The workers were demanding ouster of Ministers allegedly involved in murder cases.
Holding placards, black flags and shouting slogans against the ruling BJD government, the Opposition activists were taking out a rally towards the venue when they were arrested by the police. They were later released, said Cuttack (Rural) SP Jugal Kishore Kumar Banoth.
A saffron party activist had allegedly hurled eggs at the Works Minister’s car in Banki while the latter was returning after attending the inauguration ceremony. Banoth however denied that the worker had hurled eggs at the Minister’s vehicle.