Gehlot govt stalled projects, responsible for water crisis in Jodhpur: Shekhawat

Jodhpur: Union Jal Shakti minister and BJP candidate for the Jodhpur Lok Sabha seat Gajendra Singh Shekhawat once again accused former chief minister Ashok Gehlot of stalling water projects and blamed the previous Congress government for the water crisis in Jodhpur.

Addressing public meetings in Jodhpur's Luni assembly constituency on Wednesday, Shekhawat claimed that the Gehlot government did not begin work on the third phase of the lift canal project on time and as a result, many villages are now facing a shortage of drinking water.

"But realising the gravity of the problem, the Modi government has started the construction of four reservoirs in Jodhpur to address the water crisis and Rs 1,400 crore has been allocated for the purpose," he said, adding that the work would be completed in the next six months.

Shekhawat said that the Congress had promised in its manifesto for the 2018 Assembly elections that it would start work on the third phase of the lift canal as soon as the party came to power, but they issued tenders for the work just before the 2023 polls.

This work was the responsibility of the state's previous Congress government but the party's candidates were trying to blame him for it, the BJP leader alleged.

Shekhawat has earlier also claimed that while he got funds worth thousands of crores sanctioned by the Centre for water projects in Rajasthan, the previous Congress government in the state failed to utilise it.