Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday blamed previous governments for coming up with development projects but leaving them incomplete. A canal project Modi inaugurated in Uttar Pradesh’s Mirzapur city on Sunday would have cost just Rs 300 crore had it not been delayed, he claimed. The project now cost Rs 3,500 crore, he said.

Modi inaugurated the Bansagar canal project and laid the foundation stone for a medical college on the second day of his visit to Uttar Pradesh.

“After we came to power in 2014 and began to dig into all the stalled projects, we found this project as well,” Modi said. “After this, the Bansagar project was linked with the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana [irrigation scheme], and all effort was put into completing this.”

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Modi said stalling the project had cost both the locals and the country as its cost went up.

“Those who are shedding crocodile tears for farmers today should be asked why they did not complete irrigation projects, which were left incomplete throughout the nation during their tenure,” he said. “Previous governments used to come up with incomplete projects and stall them.”

At the function to lay the foundation stone of the medical college, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Adityanath said the Congress governments in the past “could not give an AIIMS [All India Institute of Medical Sciences] to the state in 55 years”. “Thirteen medical colleges were built in Uttar Pradesh since independence and PM Narendra Modi gave 13 medical colleges including AIIMS and cancer institute in just four years,” he claimed.