Punjab government on Monday unveiled Rs 1,540 crore development package for 107 cities in the state, with Fardikot, Kotkapura and Jaito all set to witness a dramatic transformation before the 2019 lok Sabha elections.
The package is aimed at providing better sewerage, water supply and roads to the people of the state, said the state local Government Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu while announcing the package.
Sidhu said that a sum of Rs 216.67 crore had been sanctioned for sewerage, water supply and road sectors in Fardikot in response to a demand by local MlA Kushaldeep Singh Dhillon. The sewerage works in Faridkot city, Kotkapura and Jaito would be completed before next year’s lok Sabha polls at a cost of Rs 93.11 crore, Rs 87.91 crore and Rs 35.65 crore respectively, he added.
lashing out at the previous SAD-BJP regime, Sidhu said that they had regressed the state during their decade-long misrule and had then tried to woo the people just before 2017 Assembly polls by releasing a meagre Rs seven crore and laying foundation stones for the sewerage works. Sidhu once again challenged the SAD president Sukhbir Badal to a debate anywhere on development-related issues concerning Punjab.
Sidhu also reiterated the state government’s commitment to the maintenance of law and order in the state, as well as the facilitation of NRI Punjabis keen to invest in Punjab.
Punjab Congress president and Gurdaspur MP Sunil Jakhar, who was also present, said that as many as 24 foundation stones laid by the previous SAD-BJP regime for development of sewerage projects had seen no progress. “Capt Amarinder government would now ensure their implementation,” he said, adding that the government would implement every single promise made to the people.
Sidhu, along with Jakhar and Dhillon, addressed the people of the city at the Municipal Council and also visited the foundation stones at Kammeana chowk laid under the previous regime and performed aarti.