Satyendra Jain blames officials for slow pace of road work

NEW DELHI: Charged with slow pace of road works in the capital by BJP MPs, Delhi PWD minister Satyendra Jain took a dig at top officials on Wednesday blaming them for sitting on plans.
“The government can take up dozens of projects, but people who can stop these are sitting here,” Jain said without taking any name.
Jain said this during a discussion on new projects and those which hit a roadblock leaving the capital in some sort of a traffic mess.The meeting was attended by top officials of the Delhi government, Lt Governor Anil Baijal and BJP MPs from the city. Union road transport minister Nitin Gadkari had called the meeting to expedite stalled and new projects as part of a decongestion initiatve.
Sources said Jain made the remarks for senior Delhi government officials, “who hardly listen to the political bosses in Delhi”. However, during the deliberations, Jain said the city government will push proposals and expedite their execution. Welcoming his gesture to accommodate demands and forward proposals to Gadkari’s ministry, Union minister and Chandi Chowk MP Harsvardhan said in lighter vain that Jain was in a good mood.
However, addressing reporters after the meeting, Harshvardhan said, “We sincerely expect the city government will take ahead what we have discussed and will keep the commitment. There should be no politics over such development works.” The minister said it was historic day for Delhi when several decisions to improve roads were taken within an hour. “The Central government has taken special interest in such an important issue,” he said.
Though roads is a state subject, the transport ministry has taken proactive step to push projects. “Delhi can’t and should not be treated as a state government since it’s the national capital. The land here is under central government and the city government does not have enough budget for massive expansion of transport network. Whether it was during Asiad or Commonwealth Games, the Centre has always taken the lead to lay good road networks,” said an NHAI official.
In November-December 2015, the road transport ministry had first come out with a road map for decongesting Delhi’s major roads.