Odishatv Bureau

Chandigarh: Questioning the SAD-BJP government`s move to approve Ludhiana Metro Rail project when it was in the fag end of its tenure, Punjab Congress chief Amarinder Singh on Friday claimed that it was just an "election stunt" as there was no money in the state coffers.

Singh claimed that the government sat over the Detailed Project Report for years and approved it only now on the eve of the elections.

The former Chief Minister said metro rail in cities like Ludhiana will always be welcome but the Akali-BJP government was neither sincere nor serious about this project.

"The very fact that the project was approved by the cabinet when the government had only few months left in office and no money in its coffers speaks volumes about its intent," he said.

"It will hardly make any difference whether the DPR submitted by the DMRC to Punjab government remained in the files or was approved by the cabinet as the project is not going to take off at this stage when the government is at its fag end," he said.

Besides, the government had also not spelt out how it will raise the huge amount of money for the project which is to cost around Rs 10,000 crore as it was surviving on "borrowed money", he said,

The PCC President claimed that the Ludhiana Municipal Corporation had also questioned the financial viability of the project, but the government went ahead with the cabinet approval "as it knew that it was doing it only on paper".

The Detailed Project Report for the Ludhiana Metro Rail Project was approved by the Punjab Cabinet on Wednesday.

scrollToTop