National President Mahila Congress Sushmita Dev's press conference in Silchar
Also read in
News

“Urge DC Keerthi Jalli to rise above BJP’s internal politics and identify land for MMLP,” Sushmita Dev

By barakbulletin

National president of Mahila Congress and former Silchar MP Sushmita Dev has urged the Cachar District administration to come out clear on the issue of Multi-Modal Logistics Park (MMLP) project. On February 11, Cachar District Administration was asked to identify three 100-acre plots for the Asian Development Bank to come and survey. The former MP has appealed to the deputy commissioner of Cachar Keerthi Jalli to issue a public statement and clarify the progress on land acquisition.

“I urge DC Keerthi Jali to rise above BJP’s internal politics and identify land for MMLP for the development of Cachar,” said Dev. She added, “When the letter was sent to Cachar Administration by the commissioner of Industries and Commerce, Keerthi Jalli was not the deputy commissioner, but now that she is, she must issue a public statement and clear the air on land acquisition.”

The former MP alleged that several projects in Barak Valley either got delayed or never saw the light of the day because of infighting within BJP. “The representatives of BJP fail to reach a consensus. One says it should be done in Borkhola the other suggests some other place, it is an open secret that the Mini Secretariat project got delayed as BJP could not decide on a plot of land and kept fighting internally,” asserted Dev.

She said that the Congress party will never politicise developmental projects that benefit the public but will ask questions when there are inconsistencies. She asked, “The letter reached Cachar district administration on February 11, today we are in the month of July, the public has the right to know about the progress and the onus is on the administration and public representatives. Has the administration identified land for the ADB to come and survey.”

Dev feels this has been a trend in recent times where BJP just announces projects but never executes any of them. Talking about Mini-Secretariat, she said that the government has only sanctioned money for the fencing which is yet to be completed. “In 2015, AMRUT (Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation) project was unveiled and it was said that Gandhi Bagh will be renovated under it, what is the progress of that. What happened to dredging of Barak River, what happened to the Border Hut, and last but not the least, what happened to Mahasadak, a poll promise in BJP’s manifesto. It is a matter of shame that they have made no progress in the 33-kilometer zone where it got stuck,” questioned Dev.

Multi-Modal Logistics Park (MMLP) is a project under the Ministry of Road, Transport and Highways, Government of India’s Logistics Efficiency Enhancement Programme (LEEP). Nitin Gadkari’s ministry undertook the project to improve the country’s logistics sector by lowering overall freight costs, reducing vehicular pollution and congestion, and cutting warehousing costs. To be specific, the government says these parks will serve five key functions: freight aggregation and distribution, multimodal freight transport, integrated storage and warehousing, information technology support, and value-added services.

A project of this sort can generate employment and improve areas around it economically. “The honourable MP tweeted thanking minister Nitin Gadkari and the next day on a newspaper report he was quoted saying he will go to the extent required to get the project. These are contradictory statements, on one side he is thanking the minister and on the other hand he is suggesting that this will need a fight, is he trying a coverup? The public has the right to know from the MP what is the truth,” she said.

Concluding, “I just do not want the fate of MMLD to be like other projects which got derailed due to infighting within the BJP in Barak Valley.”

You might also like More from author

Comments are closed.