Jaipur, Apr 13 (PTI) The Rajasthan Congress on Wednesday held protests in 13 districts of the state to demand national project status for the Eastern Rajasthan Canal Project (ERCP) water scheme.
Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot termed it a protest against the prime minister’s breach of promise.
“The protest is against Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s breach of promise. The prime minister, before the elections in 2018, had said that 40 per cent of the people living in 13 districts will get drinking water and farmers will get irrigation water from the ERCP. Three years have passed, but the central government has not given it the status of a national project,” Gehlot said in a series of tweets in Hindi.
The protests were held at the district headquarters of the Congress in Jhalawar, Baran, Kota, Bundi, Sawai Madhopur, Ajmer, Tonk, Jaipur, Karauli, Alwar, Bharatpur, Dausa and Dholpur.
“When 16 projects going on in other states can be declared national projects, it is beyond everyone’s understanding why the ERCP is not being declared a national project. Why is the central government discriminating against Rajasthan,” Gehlot asked in another tweet.
He said Union Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat was rubbing salt on the wounds of the people by saying that the prime minister did not utter a word about the ERCP during his Ajmer election meeting.
Congress state president Govind Singh Dotasra said that 40 per cent of the state’s population is waiting for fresh water, but the Union Jal Shakti minister was deceiving people.
He said Rajasthan was being ignored by the Modi government on the ERCP despite the lack of rivers flowing through the state and the falling groundwater levels. PTI AG IJT IJT
This report is auto-generated from PTI news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.
Source: The Print
