Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar must be on cloud nine the way the UPA Government has started giving special treatment to the State after the JD(U) parted ways with the BJP last month on the issue of elevation of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi as the chief of the BJP Election Campaign panel.
Soon after the Centre allocating coal linkage from Deocha-Pachami coal block in West Bengal to three proposed thermal power projects in the State, the Union Rural Development Ministry has approved Rs 4,130 crore for the construction of 5,700 km long rural roads in Bihar, highest allotment for the State during the last 12 years.
Though the Congress continues to claim that the support of the party’s four MlAs to the State Government during the voting on the confidence motion in the State Assembly last month was not more than a “tactical exercise” to strengthen secular forces, the Congress has started wooing Kumar in the right earnest to expand its social base in the State.
The Congress general secretary and party in-charge of Bihar, CP Joshi who was on a day-long visit to the State recently also remained non-committal on the prospect of any alliance between the Congress and the JD(U) in the near future by stating that the matter would be decided at the time of next lok Sabha elections in 2014.
Union Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh told mediapersons in Patna on Saturday that one should not attach any political significance to the UPA’s support to the State.
“The UPA Government has been extending support to Bihar in a similar manner during the last few years and one can verify it from the statistics.
The Minister said that his Ministry took a decision this month to sanction the amount under Prime Minister Gramin Sadak Yojna (PMGSY) for the current financial year. He said that Bihar and Jharkhand are having poor network of rural roads and hence the Centre was taking special care for improving the situation in these deprived States.
“I do not find any politics in it but at the same time the media is free to speculate on the future alliance,” he commented. The Minister, who is visiting the State for reviewing of rural development projects in the Naxal-dominated district of West Chaparan also called on Nitish Kumar for holding discussions on constructing rural roads under PMGSY in the State.
Ramesh also assured Kumar that his Ministry will sanction construction of 8,000 km new roads and repairing of another 3,000-km long once the State Government submits a proposal to the Ministry.
The proposal will be submitted by October this year.
At least 80 per cent of the total funds would be spent on road construction in 10 districts of the State, comprising Araria, Aurangabad, Darbhanga, Jamui, Kaimur, Madhubani, Nawada Sitamarhi, Rohtas and West Champaran.