The war of words between the road transport and highways ministry and Planning Commission took a nasty turn on Monday with road minister Kamal Nath saying the country would not have got its first world-class airport if the Plan panel was involved in the project.

?We were present at the time of inauguration of a new terminal at Indira Gandhi International Airport on Saturday and I asked one of the people who were responsible for building this airport: How did you do it? Because Planning Commission and its people had nothing to do with it,? Nath said at a conference on public-private partnership in state highways, organised by Planning Commission. However, he refused to name the person whom he asked this question.

The duel between the two wings of the central government came into the light when the Plan Panel shot off a letter to the road ministry earlier this year, saying that it was over-ambitious in its target for building 20 km of roads every day and advised it to be realistic in approach.

Kaml Nath made the comments in the presence of Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia and other officials from the Panel, states and the Centre. Interjecting Nath, Gajendra Haldea?who is advisor to Montek?clarified that the Commission was ?very much involved? in the Rs 9,000-crore project that was completed in record time of 37 months. ?We were involved in the airport project,? Haldea said to which Nath retorted by saying that ?you were involved in the beginning?.

Haldea responded, ?So OK, Mr Nath, you mean to say that Planning Commission should be there at the start of the project and should leave after that.?

Nath said the panel is an ?armchair advisor?, oblivious to the ground realities. ?When I joined this ministry, everybody told me that Planning Commission will never let you? build 20 km of roads in a day, the minister said, adding that the commission is ?like a buffet table. Bite what you can chew and chew what you can digest!?

In May this year, Nath had said his ministry is the one which builds roads. ?There is a difference between doers and planner,? he had added.

National Highways Authority of India?an institutions of the ministry entrusted with the job of developing national highways?could award work for one-fourth of the target set for it in 2009-10, close to what the Panel had projected. For 2010-11, the Commission has set a target of awarding projects for upgrading 9,000 km of national highways. This is against Nath?s aim of 12,000 km.