Nitish takes Lalu head on

Patna, Jun 6 (UNI) Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar today charged Railway minister Lalu Prasad of 'lacking' interest in executing projects in the state.

''Barring wheel manufacturing factory in Chapra and Hathwa- Bhatni new railway line project, Mr Prasad appears to be in no haste in completing other projects of Bihar,'' he told newspersons after his weekly meeting with JD (U) workers at the state party office.

In the process of projecting Mr Prasad as 'insensitive' to the people's problems, Mr Kumar said no step had been taken to expedite the process of recruitment against 72,000 vacant posts in the Railway Protection Force (RPF).

Mr Kumar claimed that the Government Railway Police (GRP) and other state security forces were performing their duties for providing adequate security cover to train passengers.

''But the RPF had also its role in this regard,'' he quipped.

Mr Kumar, who himself is a former railway minister, said the golden quadrilateral project, which was launched for movement of goods train at a speed of up to 100 KM per hour by linking four metropolitan cities, had been put in the cold storage in the name of freight corridor although two thirds of freight load were carried along the quadrilateral route.

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