BJP raises pitch ahead of rural polls

BERHAMPUR: Alleging that the BJD government has failed to live up to people's expectations, the BJP's Ganjam district unit geared up for the panchayat elections with a massive rally here on Tuesday.
"The Naveen Patnaik government has failed to fulfil the aspirations of the people of the district," senior BJP leader Prithviraj Harichandan said as he urged the people to defeat the candidates of the ruling party in the panchayat polls, scheduled to be held in February next year.
Besides issues such as deaths of children from Japanese encephalities in Malkanagiri, malnutrition deaths, Mahanadi dispute, the row over Polavaram dam and lack of irrigation facilities were were also raised along with problem related to drinking water supply in several towns in the district, including Berhampur.
The party also raised the issue about lack of infrastructure at the government-run Biju Patnaik Homeopathic College and Hospital for which the Centre denied permission to the college authorities to conduct admission this year.
"As the state government failed to provide basic facilities like posting of teachers and running of the indoor department, the Ministry of Ayush denied permission to conduct admission for this year," former president of the state youth wing, Bibhuti Jena, said.
"The government got busy agitating about the Mahanadi and Polavaram project, but failed to implement several irrigation projects in Ganjam and Gajapati districts," former deputy speaker of state assembly, Ram Chandra Panda, said.
"It had been some years now that the foundation stones for some of these projects had been laid, but construction works are yet to start," he added.