As a part of beautification of the road portion on Guru Gobind Singh Marg from Sri Anandpur Sahib to Takht Sri Damdama Sahib within the state, the Punjab Chief Minister Mr. Parkash Singh Badal today unveiled an ambitious plan of strengthening, widening and beautification of this 605 kilometre route at a cost of nearly Rs 30 crore.Presiding over a meeting to review the progress of this prestigious road project within the state as an integral part of National Highway to be declared by the Government of India (GoI), the Chief Minister said that the 21 kilometres link road would be widened from existing 10 to 18 feet at a cost of Rs 22 crore to facilitate smooth movement of vehicular traffic on one hand and enable the state government to declare these roads on Guru Gobind Singh Marg as Other Districts Roads (ODR) on the other.
He said that this step would ensure that the entire Guru Gobind Singh Marg was covered under the planned roads with not even a single stretch of link road on it. Likewise, Mr. Badal asked the officers to ensure that 605 kilometre portion of the Marg, within the state, must be made pothole free besides ensuring that the entire stretch was beautified by installing uniform signage boards and clearing all the bushes and weeds grown along both sides of road at a cost of Rs 8 crore. “The underlying objective of this entire exercise is to facelift this marg on which the tenth master of Sikhs Sri Guru Gobind Ji tread from Sri Anandpur Sahib to Takht Sri Damdama Sahib” he added.The Chief Minister directed the Additional Chief Secretary PWD (B&R) to immediately take up this matter with the Union Road Transport and Highways Ministry, GoI to ensure prompt completion of this gigantic National Highway project connecting Sri Anandpur Sahib to Takht Sri Hazur Sahib, Nanded via Talwandi Sabo.It may be recalled that the state government had already finalized the entire route of Guru Gobind Singh Marg after intense discussions and consultations with the eminent historians and Sikh Scholars and subsequently a high level team of officers travelled on the agreed routes in 2007 and then 2014.
On the national map, the road stretches from Sri Anandpur Sahib to Takhat Sri Dam Dama Sahib (Talwandi Sabo) in Punjab and then on to Takht Sri Hazur Sahib (Nanded) in Maharastra having a total length of 3080 Kms. Of which, a portion of 605 Kms of this route falls in Punjab, 1123 Kms in Rajasthan, 164 Kms falls in Haryana, 630 Kms in Madhya Pradesh, 363 Kms in Maharashtra, 18 Kms in Delhi and 177 Kms of this rout falls in Uttar Pardesh.Prominent amongst other present in the meeting included Additional Chief Secretary PWD (B&R) Mr. NS Kalsi, Special Principal Secretary to Chief Minister Mr. Gaggandip Singh Brar, Chief Engineer PWD Mr. GR Bains and Chief Architect Punjab Ms. Sapna.