Punjab Local Government Minister Brahm Mohindra on Thursday ordered Amritsar Improvement Trust to immediately release Rs 50 crore to Amritsar Municipal Corporation to execute the pending works in the holy city.
The directions were issued by the Minister during a high level meeting to review the progress of various ongoing development works being carried out in Amritsar, after the Amritsar Mayor Karamjit Singh Rintu requested to grant more funds to resume work on pending projects.
“Punjab Government is committed to the overall development of the holy city Amritsar. All the pending development works in Amritsar would be completed by providing additional funds to the MC,” said Mohindra, while chairing the meeting also attended by local legislators — Medical Education Minister Om Parkash Soni, Inderbir Singh Bolaria, Dr Raj Kumar Verka and Sunil Datti, besides Improvement Trust chairperson Dinesh Bassi, and Mayor.
During the meeting, Mohindra reiterated that the development of Amritsar city is on top of agenda of the Punjab Government, considering its religious and historical importance for all faiths.
“To facilitate the elderly and handicap pilgrims who come to pay obeisance at the Golden Temple, the Punjab Government intended to install escalators from the parking area to the Sarai near Golden Temple, so that they may have easy access to the parikarma of the darbar Sahib,” said Mohindra while asking the Mayor to check the feasibility of the project.
The Minister also cut a sorry figure while highlighting that there is no signage put up from the parking area of Golden Temple to the sarai, to guide the tourists coming from across the globe. He asked the Mayor to take prompt action in this direction and put up display boards for the convenience of the visitors.
Likewise, Mohindra highlighted another important issue of e-rickshaws transport mafia operating in the vicinity of Golden Temple, who carry pilgrims to the Golden Temple and charging exorbitant rates at their will. He asked the MC to take strict action in this regard and set uniform rate card for all the e-rickshaws.
A detailed presentation on the present status of various projects of Punjab Municipal Infrastructure Development Council (PMIDC) which included Punjab Urban Environment Improvement Programme, Urban Mission, Swachh Bharat Mission, Smart Mission, 24X7 surface water supply and LED Street Lights in Amritsar was given by PMIDC chief executive officer and Local Government Secretary Ajoy Sharma.
MLAs present in the meeting also highlighted various issues pertaining to the management of sewerage, street lighting and solid waste management.
Considering the chocking of sewerage a big problem, Mohindra consented to provide one more Super Sucker Machine to Amritsar MC.
The Minister also said that Municipal Corporations are autonomous bodies and these should be self reliant and they should mobilize all their available resources to generate more funds. He exhorted the Mayor to tap all available resources to increase the revenue of Amritsar MC.
Mohindra said that he would visit Amritsar within a month and will personally monitor that all the commitments made in this meeting by the officers and leaders are being executed at the ground level.
MLAs highlighted the issue that Improvement Trust in recent past has installed 15 tubewells in the city, but none of them is in working condition. Taking strong cognizance of the matter, Mohindra asked the authorities to start the tubewells immediately.
The Minister also instructed the Principal Secretary (Local Bodies Department) A Venu Prasad to conduct an inquiry in this matter and fix accountability as who is responsible for this serious breach of official duty.