Ahmedabad: Gujarat Congress president Bharatsinh Solanki today in a press conference here alleged that union transport minister Nitin Gadkari openly lied yesterday in a public meeting at Bharuch in presence of the Prime Minister about construction of Narmada river bridge.

Gadkari was in Bharuch yesterday for inauguration of new river bridge over Narmada along with the Prime Minister. Gadkari had in his speech claimed that when BJP government led by PM Modi came to power, it had to cancel the contract given for construction of Narmada river bridge at Bharuch to previous company and award the project to a new company which was L&T.

Rejecting Gadkari’s this claim, Gujarat Congress president today with 13 pages of documents said, it was UPA government that had awarded the contract to L&T in December 2013 itself.

Solanki said, it was Rajya Sabha MP Ahmed Patel’s skill and vision that in response to his representation before then Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh and then Finance Minister, the central government allocated Rs 379 crore for Narmada river bridge at Bharuch as EPC project(which means toll free bridge construction project).

Solanki said, ground breaking for cable bridge at Bharuch was performed under the UPA government on 1st May 2012. The company which was awarded the project under Build Operate Transfer(BOT) model couldn’t proceed and therefore in national interest the UPA government in Centre with immediate effect announced it as EPC(Engineering Procurement Construction) project on 26 December 2013. A contract was signed on 25 February 2014. Rrs 8.3 crore was paid on 6 March 2014 and later second phase payment was also made. The bride was to complete on 29th August 2016 but in order to get credit for the project and for its inauguration by Modi, the NDA government delayed it by six months, due to which lakhs of commuters had to suffer problems. Did the union minister take care to review the project by paying visit to the ground? Did the department official take care to pay visit to the site? When did the Prime Minister call meeting and discuss this project? Instead of spreading lies and mislead the people of Gujarat, Gadkari should make it public.

Leader of opposition Shankersinh Vaghela in this press conference said the modern railway station at Katra, units like ONGC, ISRO, NID, IIM, KRIBHCO etc were set up during Congress government. Gadkari may have lied just to appease the Prime Minister. The bridge project was declared EPC(no need to pay toll tax) due to continuous efforts of senior Congress leader Shri Ahmed Patel. The bridge was ready, but crores of Rupees of fuel was wasted just due to delay pertaining to inauguration function.

ભરૂચ કેબલ બ્રીજ અંગે તમામ પત્ર વ્યવહારની નકલો by DeshGujarat on Scribd

Gujarat BJP’s response

State BJP spokesperson Shri Bharat Pandya in a statement issued here today said, Congress leader Ahmed Patel is the member of parliament for last many years. He was political advisor of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and now he is political advisor of Congress president Smt Sonia Gandhi. UPA government stayed in power for ten years in the Centre. If Shri Ahmed Patel had sincerely wished for it, construction of the bridge could complete in ten years, but that just didn’t happen. Now when bridge has been dedicated to the people and years old traffic problem has come to end, Congress is desperately trying for false credit.

Shri Pandya further said, Congress during its ten-year rule, tried to build the bridge halfheartedly only on paper, while BJP constructed it in two and half year period on the ground and dedicated it to the people. Former Prime Minister of Shri Rajiv Gandhi in his speeches always said that 85% of total fund released by Centre remains untraced. Shri Rajiv Gandhi thus indirectly admitted that share of corruption was 85%. During the Congress government, projects used to remain just on paper. Even today, Congress leaders have in their press conference related to the bridge, proved a point that their government built a bridge only on paper during their ten-year rule.

Pandya further said, not just Gujarat but entire country is proud to have constantly active, honest, hard working and result oriented person Shri Narendra Modi as Prime Minister. If Congress is not able to feel proud of him, at least it should stay away from envy him and making false allegations.

DeshGujarat