The four-laning of 44 kms stretch between Bhogpur and Mukerian, which is nearing completion, will be inaugurated in first week of January next year in Phagwara block of Punjab.
This was disclosed here today by Union minister of state for Health and Family Welfare Santosh Chowdhary after she a meeting with national highway officials, including Dev Raj, Chief General Manager, NH 1.
She claimed that its inauguration will immensely benefit people, particularly those going to Pathankot, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir, including the pilgrims of Mata Vaishno Devi shrine.
She said that work on a Central government's project of six-laning of 20 km stretch between Bidhipur and Dhilwan will be started in January.
The minister said "the project will cost Rs 430 crore. Its biddings had been done".
On drug mafia Jagdish Bhola's recent remark that he will disclose names of three Akali cabinet ministers involved in the international racket only if CBI probe was held, Chowdhary said that there was nothing wrong in conducting CBI probe into the racket for unravelling the truth.
Chowdhary said that the Punjab government was not properly using Central grants.
She claimed that Rs 2,000 crore had so far been sent to state under the National Rural Health Mission but even then there was deficiency/shortage of infrastructure, medicines, doctors and para-medical staff in state government hospitals.
Alleging that health care system had collapsed in Punjab and poor patients faced hardships, she said that out of over Rs 500 crore granted under NRHM this year, the state had spent just Rs 152 crore while the remaining amount was lying unused.
