BHUBANESWAR:Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan on Sunday criticised the Congress for underdevelopment of Odisha.
Reacting to Congress president Rahul Gandhi’s tweet lampooning Prime Minister Narendra Modi for failing to keep his promise to upgrade the Ispat General Hospital (IGH) at Rourkela to a super speciality hospital, Pradhan said what the Congress failed to do in 50 years of its rule at the Centre for Odisha, the NDA Government achieved in just 48 months.
“The PM promised Rourkela a multi speciality hospital three years back. Now, Muktikant Biswal has walked 1,300 km to Delhi because the PM hasn’t kept his promise and people are dying,” Gandhi tweeted.
“The arduous journey undertaken by the Rourkela youth symbolises the prolonged apathy of the Congress which remained in power at Centre for over 50 years after independence,” Pradhan said in his tweet.
Informing the Congress president that work on the proposed super speciality hospital has already started, Pradhan said it has been targeted to complete all work by June, 2019. Meanwhile, process has already started to recruit the required manpower including specialist doctors in the hospital.
Asserting that the Prime Minister is committed for development of eastern States including Odisha, Pradhan said perhaps the rapid transformation of the region in the last four years is not being digested by the Congress chief.
Biswal, a 30-year-old from Rourkela, has walked 1,350 km so far to meet the Prime Minister to remind him about his 2015 promise. He was admitted to a hospital at Agra after he was taken ill.
