Punjab govt did not finish any project in Ludhiana: Tewari

Taking on the Akali-BJP government in Punjab, Union Minister and local Congress MP Manish Tewari today said the state had not completed even a single project here in the last seven years.
"Laying down foundation stones was one thing and completing the project was entirely different and beyond the intent and ability of the Akali-BJP government," Tewari said while addressing a series of public meetings at Mullanpur in Dakha, Ludhiana East and Ludhiana South assembly segments.
"The Akali-BJP government has been trying to befool the people all these years by showing to launch so many projects while not completing even single of these."

The Union Information and Broadcasting Minister said every now and then the state government had been issuing advertisements in the newspapers claiming to lay the foundation stone for one project or the other.
"Today, I am asking them to show me a single project which they have completed in Ludhiana during all these years," he said while pointing out that most of the projects have remained confined to the "ritual" of laying down foundation stones only.
Accusing the government of "vindictively discriminating" against Ludhiana as people there had "repeatedly rejected" the alliance in successive elections, the Minister referred to "pot-holed" roads and streets across the city.

"The state government gets maximum tax revenue from Ludhiana and yet the city is being meted out step-motherly treatment," he said.

Listing out his achievements as the MP during the last five years, Tewari said he had worked for the start of the city bus service by getting Rs 65 crore under Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission from the Central government.
He claimed he had got Rs 100 crore for the cleaning of Buddha Nullah, of which Rs 50 crore had been "misappropriated" by the state government.
His "list of achievements" included resumption of flights from Ludhiana airport, a daily Shatabadi train from Ludhiana, Amritsar-Chandigarh Duranto Superfast train stopping at Ludhiana and a passport sewa kendra, among others.

Expressing confidence about Congress' victory in the Lok Sabha polls, the MP said the party would double the victory margin this time over the last elections held in 2009.