Congress, BJP step up heat over ‘irregularities’ in projects in Rourkela

ROURKELA: Opposition political parties Congress and BJP on Tuesday turned up the heat on Sundargarh administration over the alleged irregularities in implementation of several development projects at Rourkela.

A delegation of Congress met district Collector Nikhil Pawan Kalyan at Sundargarh town and demanded Vigilance probe into the alleged scams.  The Congress team comprising Rourkela district party president George Tirkey, his  Sundargarh counterpart BM Tripathy and leader Biren Senapati handed over a memorandum to the Collector in this regard. 

The leaders demanded Vigilance probe into the alleged irregularities of Rs 1.80 crore during development of a central park at Chhend Colony between 2014-15 and 2017-18. “New projects like the planetarium and science park are being implemented with a total cost of around `.25 crore in the same central park in a bid to hide the irregularities.

Besides, Vigilance should also probe the irregularities in PDS rice in Nuagaon block. This apart, measures should be taken to correct the haphazard and partially-constructed underground sewerage system at Rourkela,” they said. The Congress leaders pointed out that underground pipeline works have not been fully completed at Chhend Colony, Basanti Colony and other parts of the city. Sewerage pipeline work in many parts of the Rourkela main road have been left half-done while Smart Road projects are being implemented with huge expenditures, they added.

On the day, the BJP staged protest in front of the Vigilance SP office at Rourkela demanding probe into the alleged scam in development of the central park at Chhend Colony. Leaders of BJP’s Panposh organisational district led by president Latika Patnaik and party spokesperson Dhiren Senapati threatened to intensify agitation if the Vigilance fails to investigate into the allegation in a week.