City anchor: 1 bridge, 2 inaugurations in poll year

It is election year in Delhi and the Congress and BJP, gearing for the big battle, are competing to take credit for every development work in the city. The inauguration of a road-under-bridge in North Delhi is the new tug of war between the two rivals, one that has already caused much heartburn, and even prompted calls for a boycott of the function.

Sources said the road-under-bridge (RUB), built between Gulabi Bagh and Roshnara Bagh, was scheduled to be inaugurated on January 17 by Meera Aggarwal, Mayor of the BJP-controlled North Municipal Corporation. But the inauguration has been advanced to Friday and Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit has been invited to do the honours.

"The RUB has been constructed by the municipal corporation. But the Congress and the Chief Minister now want to steal the credit," BJP councillor Arvind Garg said.

According to Garg, the road had recently been taken over by the Public Works Department and, therefore, the Chief Minister wants to inaugurate the RUB.

Rejecting the charge, Kishanganj Congress councillor Satbir Sharma said he had invited the Chief Minister for the inauguration of the RUB.

"The CM will inaugurate the site on Friday. Where is the need to take credit? It is a PWD road and falls in my area, so I invited Dikshit," he said.

Mahendra Nagpal, Leader of the House in the North Municipal Corporation, is said to have instructed officials of the civic body to give the Friday function a miss. The BJP, on its part, has decided to stick to the inauguration date of January 17.

The RUB, built at a cost of Rs 14 crore, is already late by a year. Its opening is expected to decongest Roshanara Road.

Delhi electoral list to be out Jan 15

New Delhi: The State Election Commission has added 3.94 lakh voters to its final roll, which will be published on January 15. For the upcoming election, Delhi has a total of 1.23 crore eligible voters, including 68.5 lakh men, 54 lakh women, and 332 transgenders, according to the final figures.

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