PATNA, AUG 15: Union Communications Minister Ram Vilas Paswan is engaged in a tussle with his own government in an attempt to salvage some of the projects which he had launched as Railways Minister.For obvious political reasons, Hajipur is close to the Minister's heart. As the railways minister, he had laid the foundation stone of the Railway Zonal office at Hajipur. He even brought then Prime Minister H.D. Devegowda to lay the foundation for a railway bridge over Ganga near Patna. Both were prestigious projects.But after Nitish Kumar became the railways minister, he reviewed the projects and said the projects were not feasible. Kumar went on record to say that Paswan had announced the projects before receiving clearance from the board. The technical feasibility of the projects is still being verified.So both projects launched by Paswan have been languishing for a couple of years. He had pinned hopes on Mamata Banerjee. But since she does not have any political interest in these projects, Mamata has been maintaining a tactful silence.And recently, instead of expediting the projects, the Railways Minister initiated moves to do away with the zonal office plan. Sources maintain the ministry has relied on the report of the parliamentary committee, which had criticised Paswan for creating six new zonal offices out of the existing nine.The move to dismantle the zonal office is being met with resistance in Hajipur. Last week, locals obstructed movement of trains at Hajipur in protest. Later, Paswan's supporters were also out on the streets protesting. In fact, Paswan personally is also quite irked with this move. During his visit to Hajipur on August 4, he had cautioned the officials against any such step. He said it was wrong to say the zonal office was an unviable project. He said funds were available for the Ganga bridge, but no effort was being made to go ahead with the project.Paswan's political survival depends on the execution of these projects. His Dalit Sena men are gearing up to intensify the movement now. Sena activists who have already launched the movement, are awaiting his advice.Secretary of Sena Dinanath Kranti said that they would fight back any move to close the projects. He said: ``Any attempt to ignore his projects or even to dilute them would not be tolerated. Sena people are ready to launch agitation.''They are reiterating Paswan's sentiments. Paswan had warned not to dilute the projects launched by him. At a public function, he had openly charged ``vested political interests'' with hampering the completion of the projects.He had pointed out that on the one hand Government was arguing that new railway zones were economically unviable, at the same time Prime Minister was laying the foundation stone of a zonal office at Bilaspur. JD(U) leaders and legislators who are supporters of Paswan are also threatening to resign from their offices over the issue.
