Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal on Thursday sought intervention of Union Ministers Arun Jaitley and Uma Bharti for “prompt clearance” of the project to restart work on the Sakki-Kiran Nallah (drain) in Amritsar and Gurdaspur districts.
Badal, in separate letters to both the Union Ministers, apprised them of this project, which would play a pivotal role in saving the border districts of State from the scourge of floods. The project was approved by the Union Government in June 2006, but the work had to be stopped following objections raised by the Army regarding design of bridges in border area.
Chief Minister said that the project cost, which was estimated to be around Rs 111.39 crore then, has now escalated to Rs 400.26 crore. “Now, the project has been split into two parts based on Flood Management requirement of Punjab (FMP) and requirement of Army authorities,” he said.
Urging both the ministers to get this project cleared at the earliest for restarting of work, Badal said that this project would prove to be a boon for the border areas of the State.