The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress were on Wednesday locked in a war of words over the state of roads in Chhattisgarh.
Former Chief Minister and BJP leader Dr Raman Singh moaned the condition of roads and claimed that in its 15 years of BJP rule, 60,000 km of roads were constructed.
The Congress dubbed the claim a lie, saying Chhattisgarh has only 32,800 km of roads.
Raman Singh complained that even existing roads were not being maintained.
He said the Congress government had slashed the Public Works Department budget in the last four years to Rs 6,634 crore in 2022-23, from Rs 7,187 crore in 2018-19.
He also said that in the last four years a single assembly constituency (Patan) was allocated Rs 1,750 crore for under road related work against Rs 1,300 crore for 12 assemblies of Bastar division and Rs 1,730 crore for 14 assemblies of Surguja division.
Countering it, Chhattisgarh PCC's Sushil Anand Shukla said the claim of building 60,000 km of roads in the state is a bundle of lies. The total length of roads in the state is 32,833 km.
He said the former CM was admitting to corruption in road construction with mismatch in road data. The roads which should have sustained up to 15 years have become dilapidated within three years, he said.
