Lalu's allegation baseless: CM

Patna, Aug 11: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar today brushed aside the allegations of Railway Minister Lalu Prasad that the NDA government was not providing land for several mega rail projects sanctioned for the state.

Mr Kumar told newspersons here that Mr Prasad was misleading the people by making wild allegations against the state government and reiterated his earlier remark about the Railway Minister that he had surpassed Gobbels, an aide of German dictator Hitler, in presenting the distorted facts.

'' The NDA government had acquired 4750 acres of land till July this year and handed over the same to Railways for execution of the various projects in the state,'' Mr Kumar informed.

Mr Kumar said compensation being paid by the state government for acquisition of the land for the Railway projects was more than what Railways was paying to the land owners if it directly acquired the land for the purpose.

The Chief Minister blamed Mr Prasad for delay in construction of coach repairing workshop at Harnaut in Nalanda district and said his indifferent approach on the issue led to escalation of the cost from Rs 100 crores to Rs 225 crores.

When asked about the media report on Mr Prasad getting registered land in name of his relatives for providing jobs to the aspirants, Mr Kumar refused to comment saying he would react only after going through the documentary proof.

UNI