Patna, July 01: Treasury and opposition benches in the Bihar Assembly today traded charges for the inordinate delay in making the Ganga navigable to make the waterway between Haldia and Allahabad function properly. Replying to a short notice question by Navin Kishore Prasad Sinha (BJP), transport minister Awadh Bihari Choudhry said the river route between Haldia and Allahabad had not been affected by siltation and the Ganga which had moved away from the state capital had enough water for cargo vessels.

Choudhry denied Sinha's allegations that the Centre had provided Rs 83 crore to the Bihar government for constructing a shipping terminal at Gaighat here and bringing the river, which had changed course, back to Patna, during 2002-03. He charged the Centre with not clearing projects submitted by the state government to make Ganga navigable in Bihar particularly at Patna.

He accused the leader of the opposition Sushil Kumar Modi of levelling "baseless allegations" against the government and asked the chair to form an all-party committee to probe whether the Centre or the state government was responsible for not making the Ganga navigable.

Bureau Report