Former Chief Minister and Leader of Opposition Jai Ram Thakur on Wednesday said that the newly constructed tunnel at Dhalli in Shimla is an achievement of the Central Government and the former BJP government in the state.
“The Congress government is trying to take credit for this work,” he alleged.
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He said that had the Congress government made it a priority to complete the construction of the tunnel, it would have been inaugurated much earlier. Due to the government’s apathy, the completion of tunnel was delayed, he added.
The Leader of Opposition said that it would be good if the Congress government does some work of its own and takes credit for it.
He said that the British had constructed Dhalli tunnel in Shimla 170 years ago and since then, no tunnel has been built to improve traffic.
“The tunnel was extremely necessary to strengthen the traffic in Shimla. We worked for this. After a scientific survey, it became clear that it is possible to construct a second tunnel along with the Dhalli tunnel. Due to the efforts of our government, the Central Government approved its construction under the Smart City projects and released a budget of Rs 48 crore,” he informed.
“On March 9, 2022, I laid the foundation stone of this double-lane tunnel. Along with this, Rs 12 crore was separately approved for the development of footpaths and other facilities,” he said.
He said that a total of Rs 53 crore had been sanctioned for the construction work of this tunnel. “Most of the work related to the construction of the tunnel was completed during the time of the BJP government. With the Congress government coming to power, the construction work of the tunnel slowed down. It was not the priority of this government to complete this tunnel,” said Thakur.
“Therefore, I want to clearly tell the government that instead of taking unnecessary credit for the construction of this tunnel, it should work on new development projects. So that the people of the state get convenience,” he added.