Khanduri vows again: PMO didn146;t leak any Dubey letter

Union Minister for Road and Surface Transport B.C. Khanduri retd has denied that the letter written by slain National Highways Authority o...

Union Minister for Road and Surface Transport B.C. Khanduri retd has denied that the letter written by slain National Highways Authority of India official Satyendra Dubey had been leaked from the Prime Minister8217;s Office, and instead blamed the prevailing law and order situation in Bihar for his killing.

Satyendra Dubey8217;s case was first highlighted by

Khanduri, who is seeking re-election from Pauri Garhwal Lok Sabha constituency, was here today to campaign for the polls.

The minister said there was nothing secret about the letter written by Satyendra Dubey because the authorities keep receiving letters containing such allegations.

Often, the same persons who sent the letters deny having ever sent them, 8216;8216;so the veracity of the letters are checked. And the same thing was followed in the case of Satyendra Dubey,8217;8217; he added.

Squarely blaming the Bihar government for the prevailing law and order situation in that state, the minister said that Dubey, an upright officer, was killed because he took up cudgels against corruption.

8216;8216;Even before Satyendra Dubey was killed, I had written many letters to Bihar Chief Minister Rabri Devi pointing towards the deteriorating law and order situation which stalls road construction work,8217;8217; he added.

Asked about the corrective steps taken up and lessons learnt from the Satyendra Dubey case, Khanduri said reforms vis a vis granting of contracts for road construction have been taken up along with some internal steps to check corruption.

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Khanduri also attacked the N.D. Tiwari government of Uttaranchal, terming it as a 8216;8216;curse8217;8217; on the people of the state.

Charging the Congress government with failure on all fronts, he said that the alleged corrupt deals of the state government in the last two years would be enough reason why the people of the state would vote for the BJP in the forthcoming Lok Sabha polls.

He also said the state government has failed to utilise the Central funds allocated to the various development schemes like the Prime Minister8217;s Gramin Sadak Yojna and the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan. 8216;8216;In the last two years, the state government has failed to utilise the more than Rs 250 crore allocated to these schemes,8217;8217; he alleged.

Khanduri further said that while the Congress government has failed to fulfill any of the promises laid down in its election manifesto, it has given ministerial status to a number of its leaders at the expense of the common man. 8216;8216;This government is a curse on the people of Uttaranchal,8217;8217; he added.