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Minister, Sajjan clash over rural projects

Sujay Mehdudia

MP not presenting true picture, says Chauhan

NEW DELHI: The issue of development of rural areas of the Capital resulted in a clash between Development Minister Raj Kumar Chauhan and Outer Delhi MP Sajjan Kumar in the presence of Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit during a meeting held this past Wednesday.

At the very outset, Mr. Sajjan Kumar, former Chairman of the Rural Development Board, alleged that development projects had got stuck ever since Mr. Chauhan took charge. He said various schemes cleared during his tenure had still not been implemented and were awaiting clearance and this was an unfortunate situation. Also, Mr. Sajjan Kumar said tenders had not been floated for various works and the Rural Development Board had become virtually non-functional.

Pressing home his point, Mr. Kumar pleaded with the Chief Minister to directly allocate funds to the Municipal Corporation of Delhi for execution of various works and not wait for approval of the Board.

Mr. Chauhan intervened and stated that Mr. Sajjan Kumar was misleading and not presenting the true picture. Asserting that everything was proceeding according to schedule, Mr. Chauhan said the allegation that projects were stalled for lack of sanction was baseless and unfounded. He said that during the meeting held on May 3 this year he had cleared 139 projects and financial sanction for them was accorded recently. Interestingly, when Mr. Chauhan asked the MLAs if they had any complaints, the three-time MLA from Hastsal, Mukesh Sharma, said projects in his areas were being implemented smoothly. The Bawana MLA, Surinder Kumar, also supported him in this contention putting Mr. Sajjan Kumar to great embarrassment.

The meeting had been convened at the behest of Mr. Sajjan Kumar to review the progress of projects in rural areas.

Disapproving of the stinging remarks by the party MP, the Development Minister submitted to the Chief Minister that his style of working was different. "Mr. Sajjan Kumar is furnishing wrong information that needs to be rejected without any notice. I also oppose the proposal of Mr. Sajjan Kumar to directly give funds to MCD ,'' an agitated Mr. Chauhan asserted in full view of the Congress MLAs.

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