With less than two months to go for historic 550th prakash purb of Guru Nanak Dev, Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh on Thursday took stock of ongoing construction work for Kartarpur corridor, while sanctioning Rs 75.23 crores for widening and strengthening of the major roads leading to this iconic town.
The Chief Minister also approved Rs 3.70 crores for the construction of a Heritage Street and Food Street for the mega event, while issuing a series of directives to various departments for ensuring timely completion of all development works for the celebration.
At the same time, the Shiromani Aklai Dal ridiculed the Chief Minister for “forcibly” making “on-the-spot and fake announcement” of projects worth Rs 75 crore. “The announcements were made without realising that the completion of these projects in just about seven weeks, including the construction of quality roads leading to the main site befitting the sanctity and significance of the occasion, would be impossible and non-practicable,” said SAD MLA and former minister Bikram Singh Majithia.
Accompanied by his Cabinet colleagues, the Chief Minister inspected the Kartarpur Corridor construction works at the Indo-Pak border, including the Integrated Check Post (ICP) construction project, where he interacted with the construction workers.
He was apprised about the upcoming passenger terminal at ICP, which would have total capacity of 5000-10000 and would be fully equipped with ultra-modern facilities.
Chairing the third meeting of Dera Baba Nanak Development Authority (DBNDA), constituted to ensure holistic development of historic town associated with the first Sikh Guru, the Chief Minister directed all top officials to ensure timely completion of the various projects related to the 550th prakash purb celebrations.
Capt Amarinder asked the Principal Secretary Civil Aviation to take up the issue of special chartered flights from London and other European countries to Amritsar for facilitation of the devotees settled abroad.
He also asked the concerned officials to take up with the Indian Railways the issue of increase in frequency of special trains to the city during the historic occasion.
Reviewing the status of the work connected with the requisite basic amenities, logistics and infrastructure works in the adjoining 12 villages, Capt Amarinder directed the officials to ensure timely arrangements to facilitate the millions of devotees expected to converge at the historic city for the historic event.
During the meeting, the Chief Principal Secretary to CM Suresh Kumar said that though works to the tune of Rs 450 crores had been initiated at Sultanpur Lodhi, Batala and Gurdaspur, it was necessary to keep in place a contingency plan to ensure that the devotees experience no problems during their visit. The official programme for the main event should also be released soon, he suggested.
