Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Monday asked the officers of the Public Works Department (PWD) to expedite work on all ongoing projects in the state along with initiating and completing the other ones for giving major boost to the infrastructural development.  

Mann, chairing a review meeting of the Department, asked the officials to accord top priority to all approved and sanctioned works for their timely completion.  

He directed the PWD officials to ensure proper checks at every stage of the projects to ensure good quality of the works. “The Department should strictly adhere to the prescribed specifications for ensuring quality construction, maintenance, and repair of the upcoming projects,” he said.  

Chief Minister directed the officers to ensure that work for starting construction of Delhi-Amritsar-Katra National Highway is put on fast-track mode. “This is an ambitious project, which once completed, will save time, money, and energy of commuters travelling from Delhi to Punjab and Jammu-Kashmir, especially those desirous of paying obeisance at Mata Vaishno Devi shrine,” he said.

 Mann said that the 254-kilometer-long highway will be constructed at a cost Rs 11,510 crore and will pass through nine districts of the state — Jalandhar, Sangrur, Malerkotla, Patiala, Kapurthala, Ludhiana, Amritsar, Tarn Taran, and Gurdaspur.

 Dwelling on another issue, the Chief Minister asked the Department to complete the work on construction of Aam Aadmi Clinics as per the fixed deadline. “These ambitious clinics are to be dedicated to the people on the coming Independence Day,” said Mann.