Promising for the overall development and progress of Chandigarh, Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal on Sunday urged Punjab Governor and UT Administrator Shivraj Patil to lead a delegation including him and his Haryana counterpart to impress upon the Centre to take up the pending issues.
He said that the delegation should take up the issues of expansion of Post-Graduate Institute of medical and Educational Research (PGIMER), early completion of Chandigarh Metro Rail project and the international airport “without any further delay as these were of paramount importance for the over development of the tri-city”. Badal, in fact, assured Patil to extend all possible assistance and cooperation for these pending projects on the top priority. He also offered land for the expansion of PGIMER so as to enable it to function in a far more meaningful and result-oriented manner.
The Chief Minister asked the UT Administrator to use his good offices in prevailing upon the Centre to further extend the metro rail project which was originally up to Zirakpur in one direction and Mullanpur on the other to Kharar, Kurali and Ropar on one side and Banur, Rajpura and Patiala on the other so that the people of these towns could be immensely benefited due to this comfortable transport facility as a viable alternate to the road journey.
Justifying State Government’s recent decision of renaming Mullanpur as ‘New Chandigarh’, Badal said: “Chandigarh is a brand name of planned development in the tri-city and what is the harm in giving a name “New Chandigarh” to Mullanpur, which is coming up in a big way with a focus on the latest health and educational facilities.”
He added, “Edu-city and Medi-city are being developed in New Chandigarh to attract the world class players in the field of medical and health to set up their State-of-the-art hospitals to provide the best healthcare and diagnostic facilities to the people besides schools, colleges and universities to enable our youth to compete globally.”
Badal also welcomed Patil’s suggestion for the expansion of Panjab University —one of the premier institutes of higher learning in the country. He also conceded Patil’s proposal to popularise the concept of solar energy in the upcoming urban development projects as the energy saved from other sources such as hydro and thermal equated to energy generated.
Patil lauded the path breaking initiative of the Punjab Government for giving 30 per cent subsidy on solar pumps to the farmers in addition to the subsidy provided by the Centre. He urged Badal and Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, as major stake holders to ensure urban development under their States’ jurisdiction especially in Mohali and Panchkula to ensure synergy in the integrated and planned development of tri-city.
“Chandigarh’s master plan is being finalised in the light of emerging needs and requirements of the citizens in the changed scenario, which would be published soon and suggestions thereof from the public invited. Meaningful and positive suggestions would incorporated in the master plan while the insignificant ones would be rejected,” he added.