Minister blames Sushil Modi for slow pace of road construction

PATNA: Road construction department (RCD) minister Rajiv Ranjan Singh alias Lalan Singh on Sunday refuted former deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi’s charge that the pace of work on roads and bridges in Bihar slowed down after the BJP’s exit from the government. In a counter offensive, the minister said if there was any decline, Modi is to be blamed for it.
Quoting a World Bank report, Modi on Friday said the construction of roads in Bihar fell by 23% after the JD (U) severed ties with the BJP.Lalan said the report was about the rural roads under Pradhan Mantri Gramin Sadak Yojana for which Centre did not approve schemes and allot funds. “As a matter of fact, RCD spent 100% from its annual plan in 2013-14 and achieved the target. In two financial years, administrative approval was given to 103 bridges and 64 of them have been completed,” he said.
Blaming Modi, the minister said the problem in road construction surfaced due to ban on quarrying of stone chips through an Act in 2012. “Modi was in charge of the mines and geology department at that time and he failed to make any alternative arrangement for stone chips. Even after Satyadeo Narayan Arya headed this department, it was remote-controlled by Modi. This affected road construction work in Bihar,” he said.
Another factor that affected the road construction, Lalan said, was the land acquisition issue as no land could be acquired after the passage of the Act. But, he claimed Bihar has now published the draft of the land acquisition rules and soon the process will start again. “Many big road projects came to a standstill due to this problem,” he said.
As far as bridge construction work is concerned, those estimated to cost less than Rs25 lakh are being constructed by district agencies and above that amount by the Bihar Pul Nirman Nigam Limited, he said. The works taken up by the districts were hampered because the finance department did not allocate them funds after the controversy over AC and DC bills surfaced. The finance department was headed by Modi till June 2013. The works undertaken by the ‘nigam’ were not hampered because the corporation had not been affected by the AC and DC bills controversy, the minister clarified.
Asked why the then CM, Nitish Kumar, did not take notice of these adverse developments and took a decision himself, Lalan said, “The routine works were supposed to be disposed of by the ministers concerned as Nitish had given them liberty because he was busy with bigger issues like good governance.”