Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal today initiated North India's First Metro Bus System for Amritsar by laying the foundation stone of this ambitious project, which will become operational within one and half years. Laying the foundation stone of this first of its own kind project at a which will come up at a cost of Rs. 580 crore, the Deputy CM informed that a fleet of 90 Metro buses will give complete transformation to the tourism scenario besides providing complete and ultimate mobility solution to commuters. He said the Metro Buses will be fully air conditioned and this project will have a 6 kilometer elevated passage along with metro stations. He said the project is being constructed and implemented under Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS) in the holy city.
Giving details of the project, Mr Sukhbir Badal said the system would have dedicated runway lanes for high class buses for rapid transit of commuters besides setting up of adequate bus shelters. He said this project would reduce the traffic nuisance and bottlenecks in the holy city. Mr. Badal said the project having total length of 30.73 kilometer had been pided into seven corridors including Albert Road, Bhandari Bridge Loop, Bhandari Bridge round about to Daburji bypass, Central Core Hussainpura Chowk to Celebration Mall to Kitchlu Chowk to Albert Road Junction, SSSS Chowk to Crystal Chowk, Celebration Mall to NH Bypass, NH Byepass to Verka Canal and ROB at Verka Excluding Railway portion.
Addressing media persons after laying the foundation stone, Mr. Badal reiterated his commitment to develop Amritsar as one of the most beautiful cities of the country adding Mission Amritsar would fructify in two years. Answering a query Mr. Badal said the City Bus service will get another fleet of 140 buses to facilitate lakhs of commuters out of which 40 buses will be included within a week. When asked about the Solid Waste Management system envisaged for the city, Mr. Badal said the department was working at a war level to implement the project. He said Punjab had decided to widen the ambit of CCTV project and that it would now be launched on a large scale. He said the commencement of work on world class Sport Complex was also expected soon.
Describing Enforcement Directorate and Central Bureau of Investigation as 'congress agencies', Mr. Badal said Congress Party was trying to fire every possible shot to get political mileage before Lok Sabha polls by misusing such agencies. He said Congress will get nothing with the misuse of these agencies as after two months there will be no Congress rule at the center. Prominent amongst those present on the occasion included Mr. Anil Joshi, Local Bodies Minister, Mr. Inderbir Singh Bolaria, CPS, Mr. Bakshi Ram Arora, Mayor, Mr. Anurag Aggarwal, Mr. Manvesh Singh Sidhu, Special Principal Secretary to Deputy CM, Mr. Ravi Bhagat, Deputy Commissioner.