Cong stages walkout from Chg Assembly over expressway project

Opposition members, mainly from Congress, today staged a walkout from Chhattisgarh Assembly, accusing the ruling BJP of constructing an expressway after uprooting a narrow-gauge railway track in state capital Raipur to "favour land mafias".
Raising the issue in Question Hour, senior Congress MLA Dhanendra Sahu sought to know whether the government has sanctioned the project to construct the expressway after dismantling the track between Raipur railway station and Kendri.
"If yes, then what is the cost of the project and by when it will be completed?" Sahu questioned.
He said Chief Minister Raman Singh during his supplementary budget speech yesterday had said that a provision of Rs 355 crore was made forthe four-lane expressway connectingRaipurrailway station with Kendri, a patch of 13 km, in Naya Raipur but in the written reply of the question today the government denied sanctioning such project.

Sahu said both statements appear to be contradictory.
Replying to it, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ajay Chandrakar said no provision was made for the expressway project under the second supplementary budget when the question over it was submitted by the Congress legislator.

"Therefore, nothing was mentioned in the reply," the minister told the House. He was answering in the absence of PWD Minister Rajesh Munat.
Chandrakar said an empowered committee under the chairmanship of Chief Secretary has been constituted to look into the project.
However, Sahu cited media reports which claimed that the Raman Singh government had decided to pay Rs 139 crore against land transfer to Railways for building the expressway. "But the minister is claiming that the PWD Department does not have any details in this regard," he said.

Instead of uprooting this railway track, laid way back in 1832, which connects Raipur to Dhamtari, it will be further extended to Jagdalpur to ensure travelling facility to people, he added.
Sahu said the state government had claimed that the expressway will cut short the distance between Raipur and Naya Raipur and it will be easy to reach airport.
"...Seven roads are already there to reach airport, but surprisingly why another road is being constructed? This is being done to favour land mafias," he alleged.
Thereafter, Chandrakar said the DPR (detailed project report) was yet to be drafted and its details could only be known after it.

Dissatisfied with the reply, the Congress legislators accused BJP of constructing the expressway to favour land mafias.
The Congress members and MLA Amit Jogi then staged a walkout from the House raising anti-government slogans.