Gaya: Ahead of the CM Nitish Kumar’s Samriddhi Yatra on March 20, local Congress functionaries have flagged a series of development projects in and around Gaya, claiming that they remained incomplete or stuck years after their announcement or launch.According to Congress leaders, including former MLA Md Khan Ali, party state spokesperson Vijay Kumar Mithu and DCC vice-president Babulal Prasad, the non-execution of the proposed Wazirganj steel processing plant tops the list of stalled projects. They recalled that in 2008, then Union steel minister Ram Vilas Paswan had laid the foundation stone for a steel processing plant in Wazirganj, for which 20 acres of land were acquired. The project cost at the time of bhoomipujan was estimated at Rs200 crore. However, the project remains in limbo as the revenue department did not permit a change in the land use from agriculture to industrial purposes.Union MSME minister Jitan Ram Manjhi had also raised the issue in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the 2025 Assembly election campaign, but no progress has been made since, they said, pointing out that a similar project in Bettiah became functional several years ago. The Congress leaders alleged that the state govt led by Nitish Kumar was responsible for withholding permission for the change in land use.Another major project flagged by local Congress workers is the proposed state-of-the-art stadium at Bhusunda village on the south-eastern outskirts of Gaya town. Announced in 2018, the stadium-cum-sports complex was planned on a 13.6-acre plot but construction has not yet begun. The proposed stadium was to be 217 metre-long and 174 metre-wide, with facilities for football, high jump, javelin throw, hammer throw, shot put and a running track. A 230-metre-long parking area was also planned outside the stadium. Eight years later, no work has started on the ground, they alleged.Besides these two projects, the Congress leaders also criticised the slow implementation of the piped gas scheme, claiming that timely execution could have helped the city avoid the current shortage of LPG cylinders amid the Middle East war. They further demanded the upgradation of Anugrah Narain Magadh Medical College and Hospital on the lines of AIIMS, and the introduction of medical and engineering education courses at the Central University of South Bihar.
