Amritsar, adjoining areas to get facelift of Rs 1,668 cr

Sukhbir Singh Badal, Punjab deputy chief minister held a high-level meeting to review the progress of all development projects

Amritsar in Punjab and adjoining areas are set to get a facelift by development projects of Rs 1668 crore. Those would fructify in 12 months. Sukhbir Singh Badal, deputy chief minister held a high-level meeting to review the progress of all ongoing projects and asked all departments to work in tandem to avoid cost and time overrun of the projects. He said that he would personally review the timeline of every project and it was imperative for all officials to stick to the that.

Asking the authorities to put the construction of Plaza at the main entrance of Golden Temple on fast track, Badal said that construction agency should be asked to stick to the timeline as no delay beyond Diwali 2013 would be acceptable. It was informed in the meeting that concept paper on project relating to improvement of approach road from Hall Gate to Plaza and improvement of façade of buildings around the plaza have already been approved and Tourism Department would also give a suitable proposal for interiors/utilisation plan of space beneath Plaza.

It was informed in the meeting that certain projects like construction of four-lane flyover at Kitchlu Chock at the cost of Rs 18 crore, beautification of Durgiana temple at the cost of Rs 22 crore, construction of sports complex at Ranjit Avenue at the cost of Rs 17 crore would be completed by August 2013.

Stressing on the need for improvement of road infrastructure in the interior of the city, Badal asked different departments to fine-tune Rs. 188 crore plan to widen main roads of Amritsar city along with provisions of storm water sewer, including shifting of services. He said that plan should ensure dislocation of minimum population.