Cuttack: Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi paid his obeisance to Ma Durga on the occasion of Maha Navami puja of the Goddess and visited nearly 40 puja mandaps in Cuttack city on Saturday.
Speaking on the occasion, the CM said that his government will soon take all possible steps to accord ‘Smart City’ status to the historic city of Cuttack. “I am aware of the pain and agony in every Cuttackian's heart when the city was left out from the list of 96 smart cities announced by the Centre in the country in 2015”, the CM said asserting that his government will take all possible steps to ensure that the Millennium city gets the smart city status soon.
On the basis of the parameters set to assess the urban local bodies in the State for according Smart City status, Cuttack was placed at the third position after Bhubaneswar and Rourkela. Also, the Union government had invited names of only two cities from the State to be designated as smart cities.
In July 2015, the then BJD government headed by Mr Naveen Patnaik had recommended to the Union government suggesting that only the Capital city of Bhubaneswar and the Steel City of Rourkela, located on the western part of the State, be accorded the status of Smart cities of the State. Being placed third in that list, Cuttack city was left out from the elite group.
“The city which is famous for observing Dussehra in a spectacular manner with display of gold and silver works in the tableaux and known across the country for its unique and universal brotherhood spirit; my government will accord top most priority for the development of the thousand-year-old-city”, the CM said adding that he believes the development of Odisha will begin from development of Cuttack city.
While speaking to reporters at the Circuit House here, the Chief Minister said after visiting around 40 mandaps in the city in the morning, he had a sumptuous lunch comprising about 35 items of Odia cuisine. He said he relished the Pakhal of boiled rice and Cuttack famous Dahi Bara the most.
