Vadodara, Sept 23: Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday criticised the Centre for not allowing the state to lay gas pipelines which would have let people avail cheaper gas and reduced the subsidy burden.
"Gujarat has spent Rs 10,000 crore on building infrastructure and on laying gas pipelines in various parts of the state," Modi said addressing conventions as part of his 'Vivekanand Yuva Vikas Yatra'.
"The state government is in a position to supply piped gas to the people of the state, provided Centre allowed connecting pipelines to the cities and towns," he said.
"However, the Centre has taken away state government's right of laying a gas pipeline saying it fell under its (Centre's) jurisdiction," Modi said adding that they had challenged the Centre's decision in the Supreme Court.
"So far, we have supplied piped gas connections to seven lakh families in about 300 villages in the state and saved the subsidy burden of the Centre to the extent of Rs 600 crore per annum," he said.
"If the Gujarat government is permitted to complete laying of connecting gas pipelines with the main pipeline in the state, it would result in saving 5 crore LPG cylinders," Modi said.
Modi alleged that since the Centre could not tolerate his growing popularity, it was creating hassles on this front and appealed to the people to defeat the Congress in the upcoming assembly polls.
