Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi today alleged that Union Minister Nitin Gadkari laid the foundation stone of two bridges in the state without preparing the Detailed Project Reports of both.
"I have never seen a Central Government like the present one of going out with foundation stone laying spree without preparing DPRs," Gogoi said in a statement.
This has exposed that the BJP-led NDA Government at the Centre is out to hoodwink the people of Assam with an eye on the upcoming Assembly election.
Gadkari, Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways, laid the foundation stone of two bridges connecting Sivasagar and North Lakhimpur via Desangmukh, Dhakhuakhana and another linking Jorhat and North Lakhimpur via Majuli earlier in the day.
Gogoi questioned how the project cost for two massive bridges across the Brahmaputra could be estimated without preparing the DPRs that include feasibility report.
DPR is a complete document for planning a project and implementing it.
Union ministers, including the Prime Minister, have made over 200 trips to Assam in the past 19 months, Gogoi said.
"They are trying to give the impression that the present dispensation at the Centre has a soft corner towards Assam and the North East Region as a whole but the grim reality is that nothing concrete has emerged," he said.
The Prime Minister's recent inauguration of projects in the state were outcome of the initiatives of the previous Congress-led UPA Government.
"If he was so interested in ushering in development in Assam and the entire North East region, why did his Government curtail the Special Category Status, change the funding pattern from the earlier 90:10 and suspend the North East Industrial and Investment Promotion Policy?" Gogoi asked.
