Ujjain Narmada-Kshipra confluence turns into nallah

UJJAINI (Indore): Chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan's dream Narmada-Kshipra link project seems to be slipping into a coma. The Sangam Sthal, confluence of the two rivers, which is 20 km from Indore, has turned into a nallah full of filth and sewage.
The Rs 432-crore project, which was launched by BJP patriarch Lal Krishna Advani on February 25 in the presence of senior BJP leaders Sushma Swaraj, former BJP chief Nitin Gadkari, Yog guru Baba Ramdev and Chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan seems to have been forgotten by the state government.
Some visitors, who dared to take a dip, were seen scratching and growling over the quality of water. "We came here to cool off in the water, but were left with an itchy back because of the poor quality of water," said Shyam Desaria, who had gone along with his friends to the sangam sthal. Similar was the experience of his friends.
"The sangam sthal is in a state of neglect since last one month," said a resident of Ujjaini Vishal Thakur adding that the guards posted here do not stop people from throwing puja material and other things inside the sthal. He added that the sthal has been stinking and the government seems entirely passive.
Prakash Kumar, another resident of Ujjaini, the place of confluence, said the irony is that people living in Ujjaini do not get drinking water, while the state government has linked the project. He said that initially the state government had employed some people, but now even they have stopped coming to take stock of the situation.
Taking a dig at BJP government in MP, Congress spokesperson Narendra Singh Saluja said that the BJP wanted to gain political mileage out of the initiative and has forgotten all about it after coming to power. "Holding a cabinet meeting and inviting senior BJP leaders was nothing but an eyewash," he said adding that the state government was doing nothing but spending Rs 8 lakh per day on power supply.
NVDA PRO Adil Khan was not available for his comment, furthermore, he didn't respond to the SMS either.