At road project launch, PM hits Cong on delays

‘ Green highway cost rose 3 times’

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday launched a blistering attack on the previous Congress regime over the delayed Kundli- ManesarPalwal ( KMP) expressway project, saying it is a “case study” of how public money is wasted.

Without naming the Congress- led UPA dispensation, Mr Modi blamed it for the slow pace of development of infrastructure projects across the country.

He inaugurated the 83km stretch of KMP project, also known as western peripheral expressway, and the ` 580- crore 3.2- km elevated stretch of the Violet Line of the Delhi Metro through video- conferencing from Sultanpur village in Gurgaon district of Haryana.

The metro corridor linking the Kashmere Gate station in New Delhi with Escorts Mujesar in Faridabad was planned for expansion up to Ballabhgarh, an industrial hub.

The BJP government in Haryana has blamed the previous Congress dispensation for stalling and causing delays in the KMP project, which led to three- fold cost escalation.

Addressing a public gathering after inaugurating and laying the

foundation stone of the projects, including a proposed skill university in Palwal, Mr Modi said, “The way work was done on this ( KMP) project, is a case study of how public money is wasted, how injustice is done with people. When this project started, it was estimated that ` 1,200 crore would be spent on it. After years of delay, the cost escalated more than three- fold.”

He said the KMP and

metro rail- link projects will improve connectivity in the region and the skill university will help empower the youth.

“Today’s occasion is to remember two pictures — one of the present time, when a work is taken up with determination and is accomplished, which is reflective of the work culture of the BJP governments. The second picture duly reminds us of how work was done during the previous government. That picture reminds us that the work on this expressway had been going on for 12 years. That picture reminds us that expressway project should have been completed and dedicated to people eight- nine years ago, but it did not happen. The way previous regimes functioned it took 12 years for this expressway to get completed,” he said.