Congress delayed defence projects: Modi

Pratibha Chauhan
Tribune News Service
Sissu (Keylong), October 3

Prime Minister Narendra Modi today accused the previous Congress governments of putting defence projects, including border roads, bridges and tunnels, on the back burner despite their immense strategic relevance.

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9.02-km horseshoe-shaped tunnel

Rs3,200 cr cost incurred

46 km Manali-Keylong distance cut

Addressing public meetings after inaugurating the strategically important Atal Tunnel, the PM said the earlier regimes kept “playing around with files” and delayed the procurement of fighter jets, arms, ammunition and other strategic equipment.

“There was lack of political will in according priority to defence projects. The Air Force kept demanding a modern fighter plane while they kept opening and closing files after files, and kept playing around with those files,” he said at Rohtang after inaugurating the tunnel.

Modi’s reference assumes significance in the wake of the government’s repeated assertion that the UPA regime had delayed decisions on the acquisition of Rafale fighter jets from France.

He listed several projects, including Atal Tunnel, Daulat Beg Oldi airstrip in Ladakh and Tejas fighter aircraft production, to assert that they were “delayed” or “almost forgotten” during the Congress-led UPA regime from 2004-14.

“The tunnel work was being undertaken at a snail’s pace before our government took charge in 2014 and if the same speed had continued, it would have been completed by 2040. We increased the pace of construction from 300 metres annually to 1,400 metres and completed it in 2020,” he said.

According to a 2005 assessment, he said, the tunnel would have been ready in about Rs 9.5 crore, but due to “continuous delays”, it cost Rs 3,200 crore.

Connectivity had a direct link with national development, especially in border areas, he said. “The ordnance factories were never modernised and upgraded to meet the defence needs,” he maintained.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur, Union Minister of State for Finance Anurag Thakur and Mandi MP Ram Swaroop welcomed the PM on his arrival at Manali.

Modi inaugurated the south portal of the tunnel at Solang, 30 km from Manali, and drove through the tunnel in an open jeep to reach the north portal at Sissu in Keylong where he addressed a public meeting. Lahaul and Spiti people had turned up in traditional attire to express their gratitude for the construction of the tunnel.

The 9.02-km tunnel reduces the travel distance between Manali and Keylong by 46 km and the travel time by four to five hours. It will help people in case of medical emergency during winter when the area is buried under 20 feet of snow. The horse-shoe shaped tunnel’s stone was laid by UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi on June 28, 2010.