Coastal Highway Dilemma: 'Betrayal' by Double Engine Sarkar?

The opposition party BJD has launched a fierce criticism against the BJP-led NDA government, accusing it of stalling the long-anticipated Coastal Highway project. In a press conference, BJD vice-president Sanjay Das Burma termed the inaction a 'betrayal.'

The project's foundation stone, laid in 2015 under the Sagarmala project by Union Minister Nitin Gadkari, seems under threat after the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) recently canceled a tender for a part of the work. The BJD is urging the state government to confront the Center over the decade-long delay and recent tender annulment.

Criticism extends to the reduction of the highway's scale from a four-lane to a two-lane road, against initial promises. The 346 km highway was designed to be an alternative route to the NH-16, connecting Gopalpur in Odisha to Digha in West Bengal. The BJP has not responded to these allegations.

(With inputs from agencies.)