Projects incomplete for 50 years finished in four years: Rajasthan CM

Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje Scindia on Wednesday said that important projects lying pending for 50 years were completed in four years by the Bharatiya Janata Party government in the desert state.

Addressing a function at Jhunjhunu on the completion of the BJP's four years in power in Rajasthan, she announced development projects worth Rs 2,237 crore.

A major announcement included an increase in the minimum age for direct recruitment from 35 to 40 years for different services.

"As per our plan to have a model school in every gram panchayat, over 4,000 such schools were opened."

Raje said 25 km roads were being developed in the state daily.

The Chief Minister said her government had made every effort to improve farmers' prosperity.

"In four years, we gave interest-free crop loans of over Rs 58,000 crore, a record in the country. We will also give interest-free crop loans of Rs 75,000 crore more, whereas the previous Congress government was able to lend only Rs 25,000 crore in five years."

She said Jhunjhunu will soon have a National Sports Institute on the lines of the one in Patiala in Punjab.

The Kumbharam canal, which till now had been a political issue, began supplying water in and around Jhunjhunu villages in four years as the BJP government spent Rs 172 crore to ensure that its water satiates the thirst of the people, Raje said.

As many as 6,994 villages in 16 districts were deprived of drinking water and we helped these villages get sufficient water supply, the Chief Minister said.

Similarly, she added, 1,662 villages in 22 districts lacked road connectivity and the government worked to ensure the facility.

She also felicitated widows of soldiers in Jhunjhunu. Meritorious girl students were given two-wheelers and laptops.

She said the BJP government was not biased because though Jhunjhunu had elected only two BJP MLAs, the government had allotted Rs 5,400 crore for its development.

She said 1,40,000 persons got government jobs in four years and a similar number will be recruited in the coming year. Heart patients can get free angiography in government hospital and those injured in road accidents will be given free treatment for 48 hours.

The Rajasthan Cooperative Land Development Bank will provide loans to farmers at 5.5 per cent rate from January 2018 instead of 6.7 per cent.

She also announced projects worth Rs 1,300 crore to tackle the water crisis in Udaipurwati in Jhunjhunu.

A military school will come up soon in Jhunjhunu at a cost of Rs 184 crore, Raje added.

Senior Congress leader and former Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot claimed that corruption and nepotism marked Raje's term as Chief Minister and crimes like rape of minor girls and murders were a daily routine.

"Raje pushed the state backwards and I have never seen such an irresponsible government in 50 years of my political career," Gehlot said in a statement.

He said there was resentment among the people and it seems she was aware that it was her last term as Chief Minister.

"Crores of rupees are going down the drain in the name of foreign tours and 'Resurgent Rajasthan'," the Congress leader added.

Earlier in the morning, a Chief Minister's Office release said the welfare of the poor remained the BJP government's highest priority.

--IANS

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