Rural bridges bait to get Mamata on board

In a bid to build bridges between the Trinamool Congress and the Congress in this season of presidential election, the Centre has for the first time allowed the construction of bridges as part of its rural roads scheme in West Bengal.

In a bid to build bridges between the Trinamool Congress and the Congress in this season of presidential election, the Centre has for the first time allowed the construction of bridges as part of its rural roads scheme in West Bengal.

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The rural development ministry has also agreed to upgrade almost 6,000 km of murram-covered (non-tarred) rural roads in West Bengal.

"We have decided all missing bridges on the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojna (PMGSY) roads would be included in the scheme. This has never happened before," Ramesh told HT.

West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee is slated to come to Delhi on May 4. Discussions between the Congress and its biggest ally on the presidential and vice-presidential elections are expected to take place during that time.

The Congress had earlier planned a major rally in Lalgarh in West Bengal on the same day to flaunt its contributions to the state's development. But on Tuesday, it decided to cancel the meet which could have otherwise sent wrong political signal to its ally.

Banerjee’s government wanted the Centre to allot fresh construction of almost 15,000 km of rural murram roads built during the Left rule. But Ramesh refused to oblige.