Release White Paper on Rs 9,000-cr projects: LoP

SHIMLA: Leader of the Opposition Mukesh Agnihotri’s demand for the release of a White Paper on Rs 9,000-crore projects sanctioned by the Centre for the state has triggered a war of words as Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur has described it as untenable and illogical.

Bhanu P Lohumi

Tribune News Service

Shimla, October 19

Leader of the Opposition Mukesh Agnihotri’s demand for the release of a White Paper on Rs 9,000-crore projects sanctioned by the Centre for the state has triggered a war of words as Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur has described it as untenable and illogical.

“The previous Congress government, in which Agnihotri was Industries Minister, had failed to get any mega project sanctioned for the state during its tenure. However, the BJP government took the initiative and got projects worth Rs 9,000 crore sanctioned within nine months. Therefore, discomfiture in the Congress is natural and understandable,” said the Chief Minister.

He said Agnihotri should know that the projects were not commissioned overnight and took time to fructify.

Every project had to pass through various stages from conception to implementation. The projects had been sanctioned and work on these would commence after clearances were obtained. The criticism of the Congress on this count was totally unwarranted, he added.

Advising Agnihotri to have patience, Thakur said the execution of the projects would commence after obtaining various sanctions and the release of funds and there was no need to panic.

The Chief Minister hit out at the Congress leader for accusing the government of politicising the ‘Janmanch’ programme. He said the Congress was upset with the tremendous response the programme had received within a short period.

Agnihotri has accused the government of making false claims about projects. He had alleged that the ‘Janmanch’ programme was an old one that was being implemented under the ‘Prashashan Janta Ke Dwar’ (administration at the door of the people). The only difference was that earlier, senior officials were listening to the complaints, but now the ministers were participating in the event, he had stated.

The Chief Minister said he had full support of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP president Amit Shah and the party and there was no question of pressure from any quarter.