LUCKNOW - The Congress party in Uttar Pradesh Friday accused Chief Minister Mayawati of stalling the establishment of the Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Petroleum Technology (RGIPT) in Rae Bareli, a pet project of party president Sonia Gandhi.

“Mayawati is unnecessarily delaying the land acquisition exercise meant for setting up the RGIPT in Rae Bareli, owing to which nearly 95 acres of land is yet to be transferred to the institute,” state Congress president Rita Bahuguna Joshi told reporters at a press conference here.

“It is surprising and shameful that she (Mayawati) is spending lakhs of rupees in installing her statues and setting up parks, but is not serious about all-round development of the state. The inordinate delay in the land acquisition on the part of the state government proves it,” she added.

The state Congress alleged that the Uttar Pradesh State Industrial Development Corporation (UPSIDC) has been delaying the land acquisition for the last 18 months.

UPSIDC is competent enough in itself to complete the norms related to land acquisition and its transfer. But it has distanced itself from the issue and referred the matter to the state government just to create hurdles in setting up the institute, a party official said.

At present, RGIPT operates from the premises of the Feroze Gandhi Polytechnic in Rae Bareli.

Crafted on the lines of the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), the institute was set up by the petroleum ministry in association with public sector units, and started functioning in the 2008-09 academic session.