Nitin Gadkari lays foundation stones of 29 projects worth ₹4,000 cr in Punjab
The projects will help cut travel time between Hoshiarpur-Phagwara by 50% and Ludhiana-Ropar by 30 min
Union minister of road transport and highways Nitin Gadkari, on Wednesday, digitally laid the foundation of highway projects worth ₹4,000 crore during a rally in Dussehra Ground. In total Gadkari laid the foundation stones of 29 national highway projects.
Main projects include four-laning of Hoshiarpur-Phagwara road, four-laning of Ladhowal bypass in Ludhiana to connect GT road and National Highway 5, six-lane highway and two railway overbridges in Ludhiana city, four-laning of Jalandhar-Kapurthala section on national highway 703 A, four-laning of Talwandi Bhai to Ferozepur road, four-lane over bridge in Nangal and strengthening of Jalandhar-Makhu road.
The widening of Hoshiarpur-Phagwara road involves a 19 km long Greenfield corridor, the construction of an 8.44-kilometre bypass between NH 44 (Delhi–Amritsar highway) and NH 344-A (Phagwara-Rupnagar highway) and a bypass to connect existing Hoshiarpur-Phagwara road to Chandigarh and Una.
The Talwandi Bai to Ferozepur four-laning project will provide seamless connectivity from Ludhiana and Moga to Ferozepur, up to the Hussainiwala border and will be helpful for defence purposes.
Speaking on the occasion, Gadkari said that building infrastructure had always been a priority of BJP-led governments. “It was former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who initiated work on rural road connectivity. The current government was spending huge on roads, bridges, expressways and green expressways,” the minister said.
Gadkari added that upon completion of these projects, Ludhiana-Rupnagar travel time to be reduced from 1 hour and 30 minutes to one hour, while travel time between Phagwara and Hoshiarpur will be reduced by 50% from approximately 1 hour to 30 minutes. The minister also spoke about the 670 km greenfield expressway Delhi-Amritsar-Katra project and said once this project is complete, one can reach Amritsar from Delhi in four hours and Katra from Delhi in six hours.
“Water, electricity and transport were the basic requirements for the development of a country and the states. Similar to what we have done in the rest of the country, we have spent much more than all previous governments on road infrastructure in Punjab and the work is continuing”, he added.
Gadkari said the BJP-led government under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi is building expressways, including green expressways which are helping to shorten distances between places. The minister for road transport and highways further said five greenfield expressways and economic corridors are being built at a cost of ₹1.20 lakh crore for better connectivity from Punjab to Delhi, Chandigarh, Rajasthan, Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, and Haryana.
He said the work of a four-lane highway from the Amritsar airport to Ramdas will be completed in 2024, which will ease the way to the Kartarpur Corridor.A 75-km green-field highway from Ludhiana to Bathinda at a cost of ₹2,000 crore is scheduled for completion by 2025, reducing travel time to 45 minutes with connectivity to Halwara Airport.Gadkari appealed to the Punjab government to expedite the land acquisition process for the Jalandhar-Hoshiarpur national highway project.
‘Punjab must be made hub of producing green hydrogen’
Gadkari urged the farmers not to burn stubble and advised them to use the field residue for making biofuel. He said that India would soon become an exporter of bio-energy and added that Punjab could become the hub of biofuel.
The crop residue can be used in producing ethanol, hydrogen, and Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) for their further use as fuel, the minister said.
On this occasion, Union minister and local MP Som Parkash, former MP Vijay Sampla, and Punjab BJP chief Sunil Jakhar, among others, were present.
Accepting the demand of Som Parkash, Gadkari said the Bhogpur-Dasuya-Mukerian bypass will be given a go-ahead soon.
Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann, whose name and picture were displayed on all the proposed and completed projects did not turn up for the event. Though Gadkari did not comment on the CM’s absence but state BJP president Jakhar took exception to this and said that Mann should not have skipped the event.
“Punjab is passing through a rough phase and it needed someone to pull it out of the financial mess. The Centre and the state government should work in tandem but the CM missed the opportunity to put forth the state’s case before the Union minister”, he added.