Gujarat Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel has held the previous Congress regimes in the state responsible for the delay in completion of the Sardar Sarovar Dam (SSD) project.
The foundation stone for the dam was laid in 1961 by the then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, and it took 56 years for the project on the river Narmada in Navagam village to be completed, he said.
"The Congress, during its rule, deliberately created hurdles in the path of the project as it did not want Gujarat to emerge as a strong and self-reliant state," Patel said.
He was speaking at a programme organised by the Vadodara Municipal Corporation here last evening.
The deputy CM alleged the erstwhile Congress-led UPA government did not give permission to the BJP-ruled Gujarat to construct the gates of the dam and increase its height.
This was done despite all the partner states - Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Gujarat - completing the rehabilitation of the project-affected people, he said.
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