Rail projects in Bihar moving at slow pace during Lalu regime:Nitish

Patna, Aug 04 (UNI) Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar today alleged that execution of various railway projects in Bihar during the regime of Lalu Prasad was taking at a snail's pace.

'' Mr Prasad did not even hesitate to present 'distorting' pictures to take credit of Railways earning unprecedented profits during his tenure,'' Mr Kumar told newspersons here at Janta Durbar.

'' In distorting the facts, Mr Prasad is like Mr Gobbels who was the propaganda minister of German dictator-- Hitler,'' he said while repeating his earlier comment on Mr Prasad.

'' Mr Prasad is himself responsible for the tardy pace of progress of railway projects in Bihar and his allegations against the state government in this regard is baseless and misleading,'' the Chief Minister noted.

He brushed aside the allegations of Mr Prasad that the state government was not co-operating in execution of Railway projects in Bihar and clarified that the NDA government was serious in acquisition of land for the said projects.

However, the quantum of compensation would be much more when land for the projects was acquired in accordance with the rules and regulations of the state government, he said adding the farmers and land owners would be at a loss if their lands were acquired by the Railways as per its norms.

Mr Kumar refuted Mr Prasad's allegation that the Railways had incurred losses in 2002-03 durinh his tenure and said it could be verified by the Railway Budget of that period.

When asked about the ongoing indefinite strike by the non-teaching staff of colleges and universities of the state, he said the finance department and human resources department were looking into the issue and a solution would emerge soon.

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