Congress has wasted public money on ill-conceived projects: Goel

Delhi BJP President Shri Vijay Goel today lamented the fact that Delhi has deteriorated under the Congress regime while many other states like Gujarat progressed under BJP rule. Sh. Goel said this while addressing a public meeting at Agrasen Chowk in Model Town assembly segment along with Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Smt. Sushma Swaraj.

Shri Goel said, “While development in Gujarat under Sh. Narendra Modi has been acknowledged and lauded by several national and international bodies, Delhi has deteriorated and has been pushed backwards under the Congress regime. All the development in Delhi has taken place only on paper in the last 15 years. The Congress has lost the opportunity to take Delhi to prosperity because of gross mismanagement.”

“The Congress government has wasted public money on ill-conceived and superficial projects effecting scams after scams. The much hyped Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) corridor fell flat the day it was inaugurated after spending crores of rupees. While the BRT corridor of Ahmedabad has been hailed for its efficiency by several international agencies,” Shri Goel said.

Shri Goel said, “Signature Bridge is another ill-conceived project undertaken by the Congress government. The estimated cost of the bridge was revised six times between 2005 and 2009 leading to huge escalation of cost. The CAG questioned cost escalation by Rs 672 crore. Rs. 1,131 crore-project was expected to be completed by the time of Commonwealth Games in 2010 but it is still under construction.”

Shri Goel further said, “The JJ Clusters in Delhi betray the real story of development under the Congress regime. The CAG has found that more than half of the population living in JJ Clusters don’t have toilet facilities on their premises and are forced to defecate in the open. The Congress government has not been able to provide even the basic civic amenities to JJ Clusters.”

The Congress party has been trying to mislead people by spreading misinformation about development in Delhi under its regime. Despite its small size, Delhi has performed miserably in terms of growth rate of gross domestic product, in comparison to bigger states like Gujarat. The position of Delhi in terms of GDP growth rate in the last few years has been given below:

a)          In 2005-06- Delhi was on the 18th position;

b)          In 2006-7 on 9th position; in 2007-8 9th position;

c)           In 2008-9- 12th position;

d)          In 2009-10 17th position;

e)          In 2010-11 18th position; and

f)           In 2011-12- 15th position.

On the other hand, the Planning Commission has showered lavish praise on the BJP ruled Gujarat for the development work undertaken in the state. Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia recently said ‘Gujarat is one of our better performing States. In terms of economic growth, we have noted that the performance has been good in Gujarat. The State has raised a number of issues on which the Central government should act; like slow decision making, faster action for better development.’