DELAY IN RAIL LINK MAY COST BJP DEAR, SAYS BARMER MP

The road to victory seems to be a bumpy one for the Vasundhara Raje-led BJP government in Rajasthan with its own MP alleging that the delay in the construction of the Jaisalmer-Barmer-Bhabhar rail link may cost the party in the forthcoming Assembly and Lok Sabha elections.

Barmer MP Col Sonaram Choudhary said that he has written to the government on the issue. “Keeping in mind the demand of the people from my constituency, I had met the railway minister and even the Prime Minister for construction of the new rail line. I have told them that people in the constituencies are losing hope with the delay,” he said.

The 339-km rail link will connect western Rajasthan to the Kandla seaport. It will benefit Barmer, Jaisalmer, Jodhpur, Pali, Jalore and Nagaur districts in westerns Rajasthan. The first survey for the rail link was conducted in 2000-01. The last survey for the project was done in 2013-14.

Choudhary alleged that the rail link project was sanctioned by the UPA government, but instead of completing the project, the BJP government has been delaying it.

“This project was considered by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, after Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhara Raje had requested him in February 2016. Later, the government announced the new rail line, costing around Rs 5,000 crore, in the Rail Budget of 2016-17,” Choudhary said. “However, no visible progress has been made on the ground.”

“If the project is not taken up at the earliest, it will have an adverse effect on the elections,” he said.

Choudhury also attacked his own government for neglecting Pak Hindu migrants. “Thousands of Hindu migrants have left Pakistan due to religious persecution and come to Indian in the hope of a better life, but instead they are being forced to run from pillar to post,” he said.

He alleged that it seems that the government is not concerned with them.

Former MP and Congress national secretary Harish Choudhary said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi claims that their government does not make hollow promises. “However, his own party leaders are now saying what we have been telling people for long. Now, they (BJP MPs) are aware that people are unhappy with them and will teach them a lesson, so they are expressing their fear.”

BARMER: