Mayawati slams Centre over Ganga Expressway Project

She said her govt had drafted a blueprint of PPP for faster economic development in UP due to 'indifferent and negative attitude' of the Centre towards UP

Bahujan Samajwadi Party (BSP) president and former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mayawati on Monday slammed the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) for disproving the Ganga Expressway Project (GEP) proposed during her rule.

She said her government had drafted the blueprint of public private partnership (PPP) for faster economic development in the state due to the “indifferent and negative attitude” of the Centre towards UP.

Ballia-Greater Noida GEP was conceptualised under PPP for boosting development and employment generation in the backward eastern UP region, she added.

However, the Centre did not give environmental clearance to the project, though no central funds were asked for the GEP, she said, adding the project would have also helped in controlling flood fury in the region.

Mayawati was chairing a meeting to review Lok Sabha poll preparations with party units of eastern UP (Purvanchal) and Awadh (Central) regions.

She said her regime had made repeated pleas to the Centre for a ‘special economic assistance package’ worth Rs 80,000 crore to eradicate poverty in UP, especially Purvanchal.

Despite several representations to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the request was never entertained, she lamented.

The work on the Expressway project came to a halt on May 29, 2009, when Allahabad High Court asked UP to secure clearance from the central environment ministry. The Samajwadi Party, then in opposition in UP, had also opposed the project tooth and nail.

However, the Akhilesh Yadav government informed the state Assembly on March 14, 2013 that it had solicited fresh proposal from Jai Prakash Associates Limited on the GEP.