Bhubaneswar: Amid fight among political parties over taking credit, the much-awaited inauguration of Gurupriya bridge over the Janbai river in the cut-off area in Odisha’s Malkangiri district seems caught the attention of social media users across the country as the newly-constructed bridge has turned out to be one of the most trending topics on Twitter.

The hastag ‘GurupriyaSetu’ continued to be among top trends soon after Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik inaugurated the 910-metre-long bridge this morning. The # GurupriyaSetu has so far tweeted over 13,800 times across the country and mentions on the the micro-blogging site.

The CM told the Gurupriya Bridge as the pride of the nation which symbolises peace, cooperation and progress. “Gurupriya Bridge is a Bridge of Progress and will be the identity of Malkangiri,” Naveen told reporters after inauguration.

#GurupriyaSetu signifies a resurgent #Odisha, will transform lives in 151 villages that were cut-off for 5 decades. It is not just a bridge, it will be the identity & Swabhiman of #Malkangiri. I dedicate this special project to people of #Odisha & India #JaiJagannath 1/4 pic.twitter.com/alrcNQejRc

— Naveen Patnaik (@Naveen_Odisha) July 26, 2018

The bridge will connect 151 villages with a population of about 30,000 spread over seven panchayats in the cut-off area to the mainland. Moreover, the bridge will help the security personnel to take on left wing extremists in the cut-off region.

The foundation stone of the bridge was laid in 1982 by the then chief minister JB Patnaik and again by chief minister Naveen Patnaik in 2000.