Dharmendra Pradhan Accuses Bengal Govt Of Non-Cooperation In Implementing Central Projects

(MENAFN- IANS) Kolkata, Feb 9 (IANS) Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, on Sunday, criticised the West Bengal government for creating hurdles for implementing several Central projects in the state under various pretexts.

The Minister was in Kolkata to deliver his address at a party programme titled "Budget Talk-A phenomenal step towards Viksit Bharat".

There, speaking to media persons at the sideline of the said event, Pradhan claimed that when he was the Union Minister for petroleum and Natural Gas, he had proposed a 7,101-km pipeline covering Jharkhand, Odisha, and West Bengal.

He claimed that despite several rounds of dialogues with the West Bengal government even after seven years, the project could not be implemented in West Bengal.

Pradhan also said that similar non-cooperation from the state government is evident in the case of the implementation of railway projects in West Bengal.

"The BJP-led NDA government came to power in West Bengal in 2014. Since then the allocation under railway projects in West Bengal has been increased from Rs 4,000 crore to around Rs 14,000 crore. But because of non-cooperation, the practical implementation of the funds was not possible in West Bengal," he added.

Referring to the horrific rape and murder of a woman junior doctor in state-run R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital within the hospital premises last year, Minister Pradhan said that the event reveals the state of law and order situation in West Bengal where even criminal elements can be inducted in the police under the garb of civic police.

The sole convict in the rape and murder case, Sanjay Roy, was an erstwhile civic volunteer with Kolkata Police.

"This is not just a matter of concern for India but for the entire country, where a criminal element can get inducted in social policing," he said.

He also added that if BJP had made substantial progress in increasing its vote share in West Bengal to more than 40 per cent in West Bengal, it also had a chance to win the election in the 2026 West Bengal Assembly polls.

Ridiculing his claim, Trinamool Congress Lok Sabha member Kalyan Banerjee said that BJP will not be able to win from even 30 Assembly constituencies in West Bengal in 2026.

"Be assured, that there will be no position for BJP in West Bengal in 2026," Banerjee added.

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