MIFFED UP MINISTER REPAIRS ROAD

VARANASI: Angry over no response from the public works department (PWD) to construct a 500m broken stretch leading to his house in his native Fatehpur Khonda village, 30km from Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh minister Om Prakash Rajbhar on Saturday took a spade and started constructing the road himself. Rajbhar heads the Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP), an ally of the ruling BJP. “In the recent past, the minister asked PWD officials several times to construct the broken road as his son Arvind’s marriage reception is on June 24, and several senior leaders, ministers and officials have been invited,” said SBSP state unit general secretary Shashi Pratap Singh. He said invitees include PM Narendra Modi, BJP chief Amit Shah, chief minister Yogi Adityanath and several ministers in his Cabinet, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, and several MLAS. But officials didn’t heed his instructions, he claimed. Singh said the minister, angry that his instructions were ignored, started levelling the road and patching up the stretch. A group of local residents also joined him. Singh said when the road leading to the house of a minister was in such a state, one could gauge the situation of roads elsewhere. When contacted, Pradeep Kumar Jain, executive engineer, PWD, Varanasi, said, “Estimate for construction of the road has been prepared. It has been sent to PWD headquarters for sanctioning. As soon as the funds are sanctioned, the road will be built.”