Objecting to the Army's involvement in civilian projects, Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh said on Tuesday that the Army was not meant to build bridges or clean roads and warned of consequences of the "misuse" of armed forces.

"The Army's job is to train for war and protect the country's borders, not to build bridges and clean roads," Amarinder Singh said in a statement here.

He warned against "serious implications of such misuse of the Indian armed forces by utilising their services for non-emergency civilian jobs".

Earlier in the day, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fernandes said the Army engineers will design and build three overbridges in Mumbai, including the one on the Elphinstone Road, where 23 persons were killed during a stampede on September 29.

The Punjab Chief Minister said the move was "deplorable and an admission of the failure of the government and the Indian Railways".

Amarinder Singh, a former Army Captain, said: "Whatever the urgency of the situation, it does not merit such a decision, which will have an long-term adverse implications as it could encourage civilian authorities to seek Army help for major civilian works every time they find themselves ill-equipped to handle infrastructural or other challenge."

He urged Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman "to refrain from diverting critical defence resources to civilian works", adding it would otherwise set a bad precedent.