Aam Aadmi Party led governments have the habit of claiming credits for works done by the Central govt. After Arvind Kejriwal govt in Delhi doing so several times in past, now the newly formed AAP govt in Punjab also started to do the same. Today the party was caught claiming credit for work by the Indian Railways, as the official Twitter handle of Northern Railway refuted such a claimed by an AAP MLA, who claimed to have completed a ‘long pending’ Railway Underbridge project.
Yesterday, AAP MLA Charanjit Singh had posted a Tweet claiming that the Bhagwant Mann government completed a long pending railway underbridge project which was moving at snail’s pace during the previous govt. The MLA from Shri Chamkaur Sahib claimed that the construction of railway underbridge in Morinda was moving at a snail’s pave for more than 2.5 years, and Bhagwant Mann government completed it in less than 3 months.
Today I and @AAPHarbhajan inaugurated the long pending railway underbridge in Morinda. This project had been moving at a snail’s pace for more than 2.5 years. @AAPPunjab govt. under the leadership of @BhagwantMann completed the work in less than 3 months. pic.twitter.com/hlbpE0HLc4
— Dr. Charanjit Singh (@drcharanjitaap) June 1, 2022
He informed that after the completion of the project, he and minister Harbhajan Singh ETO inaugurated the underbridge yesterday, and posted photos of the same. Singh also added that in March he had promised to complete the project by June 30, and they delivered it before that date.
However, the claims of the AAP MLA have turned to be completely misleading, as the underbridge was completed by the Indian Railways long ago. The Northern Railway zone informed that the work on railway underbridge was already completed by December 2021, months before AAP govt came to power in Punjab.
The work of Railway underbridge was completed in Dec’21. The approach road was supposed to be completed by State Govt., hence the work was pending on account of State Govt. since Dec’21. https://t.co/7bk7JtJKL7
— Northern Railway (@RailwayNorthern) June 2, 2022
The Railway zone further added that the completed underbridge could not be used because the approach road was not completed, which was the responsibility of the state govt. They said that the work was pending on account of state govt, not due to Railways.
Therefore, it is clear that the underbridge was completed by December 2021 itself, and it has not been completed now by the AAP govt as claimed by Charanjit Singh. However, it is true that they have now completed the construction of the approach road, which is responsibility of the state govt, and which was delayed during the previous Congress government.
The railway underbridge at Morinda, constructed at the cost of Rs 22 crore, was inaugurated by Public Works and Power Minister Harbhajan Singh ETO along with Chamkaur Sahib MLA Dr. Charanjit Singh on June 1. The project was executed on a 50:50 cost sharing basis between Railway and Punjab Government.
During the inauguration, the PWD minister had informed that Railway Under Bridge box portion has been constructed by Railway, while the approach road along with service road on both the sides of RUB has been constructed by Punjab PWD. While the approach road has been completed, the service road is still under construction.
