Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari on Friday fixed the deadlines for various major road projects in Punjab during a meeting with Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal.
Gadkari has also asked the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) to initiate the process to rechristen Banga-Garhsankhar-Sri Anandpur Sahib road as the national highway (NH).
Besides, the Union Minister has also cleared the way to set up a driving, inspection and certification school at Kapurthala at a cost of Rs14 crore. At this school, driving licenses would be issued within 30 mintues on the spot after automated driving tests.
The decisions came after Sukhbir discussed the present status of various “pending” road projects in the state with the Union Minister which mainly includes four or six laning of Chandigarh-Kharar-ludhiana section of NH-95, improvement of Amritsar bypass (NH-1) up to Attari border, maintenance of Ropar-Phagwara road, widening and strengthening of Banga-Garhshanker-Sri Anandpur Sahib, elevated road project in ludhiana from Samrala Chowk to MC limit ludhiana (NH-95), and construction of five railways over bridges (ROBs).
As per the new directions, Gadkari has asked the officers concerned to award the construction work of Chandigarh-ludhiana road project till July 31, while NHAI chief engineer has been asked to submit the proposal at the earliest to declare Banga-Garshankar-Sri Anandpur Sahib road as NH.