Traffic Jams, Filth and Leaking Sewages Were Urban Face of Congress Rule: PM Modi

Indore: Claiming that his government has pledged to develop urban pockets in accordance with the needs of the 21st century, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday accused the Congress party of neglecting development in cities during its tenure.

PM Modi was in Indore to present the Swachhta Survey awards to the winner cities. At Rajgarh and Indore, Modi launched a scathing tirade against the previous Congress governments.

“Despite the fact that a large portion of the population turns to cities for employment and education, Congress rule never took care of the development in them. They left cities with problems like traffic jams, water and power shortage, leaking sewage and filth all around but our government is committed to developing cities in accordance to its 21st century needs,” he said.

Attacking the UPA for its dismal urban development budget allocation, the PM claimed that his government has doled out Rs 2,30,000 crores for urban development while the UPA in its ten-year rule had only sanctioned Rs 95,000 crores. “Whether that too was utilised is a big question mark,” he added.

Claiming that urban infrastructure projects worth Rs 6,000 crores are underway in 34 cities of Madhya Pradesh, the Prime Minister said that the Centre plans to pump in Rs 20,000 crores more in the Smart City project in MP.

He also talked about five prominent urban infrastructure development projects of the government – Swachh Bharat Mission, PM Awas Yojana, Smart City, AMRIT and Deendayal Upadhyay Ajeevika Shahari Mission. “Today around one lakh people in MP moved into their own houses built under PM Awas Yojana,” he said.

Alleging that earlier cities used to see piles of garbage all around, PM Modi said it was only the government that could not see it. He added that the current BJP government had taken up the task of waste management as a priority.

Earlier in the day, PM Modi inaugurated the Rs 4,000 crore Mohanpura dam irrigation project in Rajgarh district of MP. The project proposes to irrigate 1.25 lakh hectare of land in 700 villages and would offer potable water to 400 villages. The leader also inaugurated three water projects.

On June 6, Congress president Rahul Gandhi, while on a visit to farmer unrest-hit Mandsaur had tried to build a narrative highlighting BJP as an anti-farmer party. PM Modi’s visit is now being seen as BJP’s response to the Congress onslaught.