Development work has been fast-tracked on Banga-Garshanker-Shri Anandpur Sahib road which connects religious and historical towns of Shri Anandpur Sahib in Punjab and further travels to Shri Naina Devi in Himachal Pradesh. Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari asked the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) to speed up work of major road projects in Punjab, after a meeting with Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal on Friday.
Also, Gadkari asked the NHAI to initiate the process to rechristen Banga-Garhsankhar-Sri Anandpur Sahib road as the national highway (NH). During the meeting held in the Capital, Badal discussed the status of pending road projects in Punjab with Gadkari. Major projects included the 4/6-laning of Chandigarh-Kharar-ludhiana section of the NH-95, improvement of Amritsar Bypass (NH-1) up to Attari border, maintenance of Ropar-Phagwara road, widening and strengthening of Banga-Garhshanker-Shri Anandpur Sahib, elevated road project in ludhiana from Samrala Chowk to MC limit ludhiana (NH-95) and construction of five rail-over-bridges.
Fixing deadlines to fast-track construction work, Gadkari asked the NHAI to award the construction work till July 31. Badal informed Gadkari that the NHAI has re-submitted the proposal for Chandigarh-ludhiana road project to the Ministry on March 26 after attending to all observations. Gadkari assured Badal that the work on elevated road project of about 12.3 kms in ludhiana from Samrala Chowk to MC limit ludhiana (NH-95) would also be awarded before September this as the consultant will submit a detailed project report to NHAI by May 30.
Deputy CM also asked for upgrading the Amritsar bypass (NH-1) up to Attari border. Gadkari further cleared the way to set up a driving, inspection and certification school at Kapurthala at a cost of Rs. 14 crore where driving licenses would be issued within 30 minutes on the spot after automated driving tests.