Centre to blame for Jagraon bridge delay, says Bittu

LUDHIANA: The Ludhiana MP today claimed that the construction of Jagraon bridge was being deliberately delayed at the behest of the BJP government at the Centre. Ravneet Singh Bittu said that was being done to prevent the Congress from taking the credit for the bridge in the coming Lok Sabha elections.

Ludhiana MP Ravneet Singh Bittu addresses a press conference at the Circuit House in Ludhiana on Sunday. Tribune photo: Himanshu Mahajan

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, February 10

The Ludhiana MP today claimed that the construction of Jagraon bridge was being deliberately delayed at the behest of the BJP government at the Centre. Ravneet Singh Bittu said that was being done to prevent the Congress from taking the credit for the bridge in the coming Lok Sabha elections.

Bittu said this while addressing a press conference at the Circuit House after holding a meeting with senior officials of the district administration. “We have been running from pillar to post to get the Jagraon bridge completed as soon as possible. But the BJP government at the Centre does not want the Congress to take credit for the construction of bridge in the next general elections,” said Bittu.

Private parking lots in vacant plots proposed

Earlier, Bittu chaired a meeting of senior officials of the administration to review development projects. It was decided that the MC would allow the owners of private plots in the city to run parking lots in their vacant plots to ease problem of traffic.

“The owners of vacant plots can use their properties as parking lots by charging minimum money from the visitors as per the rates fixed by the Municipal Corporation. The administration will charge nothing from the owners for running the parking lots. This has been decided to ease the problem of traffic congestion in the city,” said Bittu.

Warning to toll plaza firm

Bittu also criticised the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and the company operating the toll plaza on the highway for delaying various repair and construction work on the highway. Bittu said if the company failed to complete the repair and construction work on the highway within one month, he would lead a drive to boycott the toll plaza at Ladowal.

No rift in Congress

Bittu also denied the reports of rift within the Congress leaders ahead of the general elections. “There is no rift between the Congress leaders and we all are united to defeat the BJP and its allies in the next general elections,” claimed Bittu.

During the press conference, MLA Sanjay Talwar and Mayor Balkar Singh Sandhu were also present. They said there were no differences between them and whatever the issues were those had been sorted out.