One for the roads

Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav is not averse to publicly dressing down his son, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, and his council of ministers for all manner of transgressions. He availed himself of the opportunity again at the foundation laying ceremony of the Agra-Lucknow Expressway by strongly criticising the Akhilesh dispensation for its poor record in completing development projects on time. After witnessing this tirade, the nervous private developers hastily pledged to complete the expressway in 22 months against the projected time-frame of over 30 months. After the ceremony, a senior industry department official was heard half-jokingly complain to the developer that his commitment to Yadav senior would entail "turning night into day".