Bizodisha Bureau, Bhubaneswar, July 9, 2015 :

The 500-km long coastal highway connecting Gopalpur in South Odisha with Digha in West Bengal will come up at a whipping cost of Rs 5000 crore.

Announcing this major move by the centre, the union minister for road transport, highways and shipping Nitin Gadkari on Thursday said here the detailed project report (DPR) for the new Coastal Highway from Gopalpur to Digha would be prepared before coming December. The major portion of the new NH will pass through Odisha coast, he added.

Addressing a function near Pipli, 21 km from here on the occasion of inauguration of the four-laning of the 67.2 kilometer long Bhubaneswar-Puri section of NH-316 at a cost of Rs 810 crore ahead of Lord Jagannath’s Nabakalebar Rath Yatra, Gadkari said, the 40-km long New Jagannath Sadak connecting NH-5 and NH-316 would also be converted as a National Highway.

Gadkari assured to take up construction of better roads in the mineral rich state and sought the support of the Odisha government in the endeavour.

“I assure the chief minister that the centre would take up road projects in Odisha on a priority basis to make the state developed,” Gadkari said.

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan, Odisha minister Pradeep Maharathy also addressed the function attended by about 50,000 people here.

The meeting witnessed virtual slogan war by flag waving BJP and BJD workers. As BJD workers forced their way into the barricade, BJP workers shouted slogans and the former returned the compliment. The police had a tough time keeping the warring parties at bay.

All this happened while Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik was giving speech and hardly anything was audible to the audience a little away from the dais as BJP and BJD workers matched lung power with each other.