The Centre on Monday assured to approve Rs952 crore for upgradation and construction of 1,459-kilometer roads in Punjab under Pradhan Mantri Gramin Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) at the earliest.
The assurance was given by Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari to the Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal who called on the former at New Delhi to discuss pendency of road projects vis-à-vis pending wildlife clearances with Ministry of Environment and Forest.
Gadkari also promised to review new formula for calculation of annual accrual under central road fund scheme.
The Union Minister informed Sukhbir that Centre will release first installment of approved amount soon under PMGSY, and a separate grant of Rs 94 crore has been sanctioned for construction, repair, widening of new and old roads under PMGSY-II.
Apprising the Minister about Punjab's pending road projects, Sukhbir urged that four-laning of Zirakpur-Patiala section of NH-64 should be approved on priority by Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs.
Sukhbir also urged approval of four laning of Patiala-Bathinda section of NH-64 on EPC mode besides upgradation of Jalandhar-Moga-Barnala section of NH-71 under NHDP-IV on EPC mode. During the meeting, Union Minister has assured to give green signal for this project within this month.
Briefing the Minister about the pending wildlife clearances, Sukhbir said that pending clearances for four-laning of NH-15 section Amritsar to Bathinda and four-laning of Sangrur-Patran-Khanauri up to Punjab-Haryana border should be released at the earliest.
"The clearances would be imperative for early commencement of work on these projects," said Sukhbir. Responding, Gadkari assured that Union Ministry would clear all the projects at the earliest.
Sukhbir said that Ministry should convey CCEA approval for four laning of Zirakpur-Patiala section at the earliest so that work can be awarded. "State is going to float tenders in this regard in coming days," said Sukhbir asking the Minister to include this project under EPC ambit.
Sukhbir apprised Gadkari about Punjab facing big loss due to new formula amended in 2009 for calculation of annual accrual under Central Road Fund (CRF) scheme, and urged the minister to examine formula in interests of states as UPA has altered it by giving 30 per cent weightage to fuel consumption and 70 per cent to geographical area instead of earlier rule of 60:40 percentage respectively.
Gadkari assured to review the new formula for calculation of annual accrual under CRF.