PATNA: Congress national general secretary Randeep Singh Surjewala said the Rs1.25-lakh crore special package for Bihar announced by PM Narendra Modi ahead of 2015 assembly election was a bunch of lies. Surjewala said only Rs1,559 crore of the amount was spent in the last five years.
Surjewala told mediapersons that the maximum amount of the package was for development of national highways (NHs), rail overbridge and bridges over Ganga, Sone and Kosi rivers.
“This package had a proposal to construct 44 NHs, but the government in Parliament said the DPR for 17 had not been made and work on 27 other projects were not completed yet. Among the projects, Rs 2000 crore meant for construction of a bridge from Manihari to Sahibganj in Jharkhand had been pulled off. Similarly, DPR for a bridge parallel to Vikramshila on river Ganga has yet not been made,” Surjewala claimed.
He also accused PM Modi and CM Nitish Kumar of befooling the youths. Surjewala said as a part of a special package, a mega skill university at the expense of Rs500 crore was announced by the PM with a promise to providing skill training to one lakh youths. “But Nitish refused to provide 500 acres of land for the university citing Rs1500 crore expenditure. Now, PM Modi has announced to shift the proposed university to Varanasi,” he claimed.
Surjewala also lashed out at the NDA government for not completing the Ramayan circuit. “Rs100 crore was allocated for development of Ramayan circuit. But when the proposal was sent to the Centre, the Modi government reduced it to Rs37 crore and, at last, did not give a single penny. Not only this, the Centre even rejected the proposal to construct a museum in Sitamarhi showcasing life of Lord Ram and Sita,” said Surjewal, adding, “Jo Siya Ram ke nahi, wo kisi kaam ke nahi.”
Among the other projects which he mentioned for not taking off included establishment of a central university at Bhagalpur and construction of a power plant at Buxar, which he said was proposed during the UPA’s regime and its MoU had also been signed.
Reacting to Surjewala’s charges, BJP state vice-president Devesh Kumar said most of the projects had either been executed or were in different stages of execution. “I do not want to comment on Surjewala ji. He is a discredited party’s spokesperson who could not retain his own seat in Haryana. As far as PM Modi is concerned, everyone praises his work. For instance Barauni fertilizer unit is being revived. Similarly, work has been done in the fields of health and road,”he said.
Meanwhile, the Congress leader praised Tejashwi Prasad Yadav and said he is a young leader with willpower to work and Congress has experience of running the government. “Together we will give the best government.” He also took a jibe at the fire in rural development department’s office in secretariat and said this was the signal of NDA’s defeat. “They are destroying all evidence as they know the next government will question them over corruption.”
Senior Congress leaders Pawan Khera, Abhay Dubey and MLC Prem Chand Mishra were present at the press conference.