No work on people-oriented projects: Atal
ATAL BIHARI Vajpayee on Friday spoke more like an MP than a former Prime Minister. He was in the city to address a campaign rally of the BJP mayoral candidate Dinesh Sharma at Kapoorthala.
ATAL BIHARI Vajpayee on Friday spoke more like an MP than a former Prime Minister. He was in the city to address a campaign rally of the BJP mayoral candidate Dinesh Sharma at Kapoorthala.

The former Prime Minister read out the list of projects that had come to a grinding halt after the change of power at the Centre and in the State. He said foremost among the ambitious projects was the Rs 100-crore Gomti Nagar terminus.
“There is no work on people-oriented projects now,” he lamented and blamed Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav for the abrupt stoppage of the Gomti Nagar project.
Another work enlisted by him was of generating electricity from garbage. But, even that had ceased to exist, he said and emphasised that a developing city like Lucknow needed more such projects. Incidentally, Vajpayee had launched the project worth crores of rupees.
The former PM said that he intended to provide cheap and easy commuting facility for Lucknowites, but rued that the train project was not yielding desired results.
The former Prime Minister had inaugurated the circular train service for people living in and around Lucknow, but owing to lack of proper management, it was incurring losses. “We need such cheap transport,” he reiterated.
Vajpayee said that all these projects would be re-started only if the BJP candidate became the city mayor. Vajpayee expressed his concern over the growing pollution in river Gomti. He said that crores of rupees had been spent on treating pollution, but all had gone in vain.
The MP stated that BJP mayor would ensure flyover on Faizabad Road, NURM water works, etc. He also felt the need for a separate home for the aged. He said that the elderly, especially those discarded by their family members needed shelter, and efforts were required for the same. He said that one should look at and evaluate the various works done by the LMC over the past 10 years.
Vajpayee welcomed Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s stand on opening talks with Pakistan only if terrorism was curtailed from the other side of the border.
BJP State unit chief Keshari Nath Tripathi, leader of the opposition in the State Assembly Lalji Tandon and mayoral candidate Dinesh Sharma were also present.