ERCP vital for State; BJP must not put obstacles: Ajay Maken

Jaipur: Congress state in-charge Ajay Maken on Wednesday said that the Eastern Rajasthan Canal Project (ERCP) is essential for the state and BJP should not put obstacles in its development.

“We want to remind them of the promise made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the people of Rajasthan in the year 2018. Rajasthan geographically covers 10 per cent of the country’s area but when it comes to surface water, it holds only 1.16 per cent of country’s surface water and 1.72 per cent of groundwater. In such a situation, BJP should not put obstacles in this important issue related to the people,” he told First India News on Wednesday.
In the ERCP conference at Birla auditorium, Maken said that the Gehlot government has given Rs 9,600 crore in the budget, despite that the Centre is saying that the work has been stopped. “What could be bigger politics than this?” he asked. Maken was welcomed by Rafeek Khan, Sandeep Choudhary, Giriraj Garg, Sitaram Agarwal, Naseem Akhtar Insaaf and other leaders at the airport. Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot’s advisor Ramkesh Meena also met Maken to discuss the ERCP.

“If the Central Government fails, then the state government must resolve this issue at its level. But the work of giving concrete shape to the project should not stop in any case,” Meena said. If the state government is not able to give the project a tangible form, then there should not be any expectation from the people of 13 districts, he added.