BJP leader and former urban development and housing minister Prem Kumar and (right) a rake of Delhi Metro

Patna, June 26: BJP leaders, who were ministers in the former NDA government, have started criticising Nitish Kumar’s much-touted “development-driven” government machinery soon after coming in the Opposition.

Senior BJP leader Prem Kumar has accused the state government of deliberately “sabotaging” the proposed Patna Metro Rail Project.

Prem, who was the urban development and housing minister since 2010, said the project was unnecessarily delayed for the past two years despite it being chief minister Nitish Kumar’s dream project.

“I am sad with the way the Metro rail project has progressed till date. It took around two years to get a simple clearance from the state cabinet for conducting a feasibility study for a Metro rail in Patna. If things had taken place in an orderly manner then the feasibility study would have started in 2011 and would have been completed by now. The construction work was initially meant to begin by early 2014 but it is because of the slow progress in the project that it is unlikely that it would begin before 2015,” said Prem.

The former minister also hinted at “red-tape” for the delay in the project.

“There was substantial delay at the level of officers as well. The secretaries in the department kept on changing frequently, leading to further delay in the project. For instance, the former principal secretary of the department (Shashi Shekhar Sharma) held a pre-bid meeting for a feasibility study but he was transferred within a few weeks,” said Prem.

On June 17, a day after the NDA spilt in Bihar, the memorandum of understanding for the feasibility study and preparation of detailed project report for Patna Metro rail was signed between Arbind Kumar, director (projects), Rail India Technical and Economic Services (RITES) Limited and S. Siddharth, secretary, urban development and housing minister.

Siddharth said RITES has started feasibility study for the Metro rail in Patna. According to the agreement, RITES would submit the feasibility report in September and a final detailed project report in December. The study would cover an area of 30km between Patna City and Danapur.

RITES would be paid Rs 2.52 crore for conducting the feasibility study for the Metro rail. However, it has already conducted a feasibility study for mono rail in Patna in 2012, which was entirely funded by the Indian Railways. Sources said the findings of the study proved that mono rail is feasible for Patna.

On being asked about the reason behind preferring Metro over mono rail, Siddharth said: “Tests for Mono rail has not been done. Except for Mumbai it is not found anywhere in the country. The government wants Metro in Patna and that’s why the feasibility study is being done.”