Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): Two ambitious projects of the government have stuck after the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) came into force.
One of them is the Ken-Betwa Link project. It has been pending for a long time, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi was to lay its foundation on October 5. Since the project did not get clearance from the forest department, its foundation could not be laid. So, the project has stuck till the election is over. It was part of the river-linking project of the NDA government led by Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
The process for the project began after the UP and MP governments entered into an accord one and a half years ago. The government wanted to lay the foundation of the project to give a message to the people of the Bundelkhand region. Similarly, the foundation of the Chambal Express Way could not be laid, since the government failed to acquire land.
The government acquired land from farmers for the project, but many farmers refused to give it. The DPR (detailed project report) was also changed. This exercise has been going on for the past two years, and the Central Government, too, approved it.
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Since land could not be acquired and a few other issues could not be resolved, the project stuck. In the same way, the Master Plan for Bhopal could not be notified. Now, the Master Plan will be notified with some amendments after the election. After the draft Master Plan was issued, objections were sought from the residents. It was decided that the plan would be notified after hearing of objections.
Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan stopped the process because of protest by the people’s representatives. Besides these three big projects, many other schemes have stuck because of the MCC. These projects will move only after the formation of the next government.
