Thaindian News

Chandigarh, June 24 (IANS) Former Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh Friday termed the approval of the multi-million-rupee Ludhiana Metro rail project by the ruling Akali Dal-led government an election stunt.

“The cabinet approval to the Ludhiana Metro Rail project is just an election stunt and the government has neither any intention nor the capacity to build it for the obvious reasons that it has no money,” Amarinder Singh said in a statement here Friday.

The former chief minister, who is the state Congress president, questioned the timing of the approval when the government was on its last leg and the state was headed for elections.

Assembly elections in Punjab are scheduled in February-March next year.

“The government has also not spelt out how it will raise the huge money required for the project which is to cost around Rs.10,000 crore as it is surviving on borrowed money only,” Amarinder Singh said.

He wondered how could a government, which could not operate city bus service in Ludhiana despite having got Rs.65 crore from the central government for this purpose, operate metro rail costing over Rs 10,000 crore.

Amarinder Singh said the Akali Dal government in the state had rushed through the approval of the project, keeping the assembly poll in mind. The government was not serious about the crucial Ludhiana Metro project, he alleged, noting how the government sat over the detailed project report (DPR) for years and approved it only now on the eve of the elections.

The DPR of the Ludhiana Metro project, submitted by the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) earlier, was approved by the Punjab cabinet at its meeting held here Thursday.

The Ludhiana Municipal Corporation had also questioned the financial viability of the project, Amarinder Singh added.