The Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Mr. Sukhbir Singh Badal today approved the revised Master Plan for holy city Amritsar that would put this city at par with any international city. The day long visit of Mr. Sukhbir Singh Badal along with Principal Secretaries of all Development related departments today kept the local administration on toes with Sukhbir making it a point to personally visit every possible site of the project to plan future expansion of the roads besides reviewing the ongoing construction of the projects. He made a detailed review of all projects after detailed presentations given by PWD, Municipal Corporation, Water Supply and Sanitation, Local Government, Tourism regarding the progress of their projects and various problems being faced by them in timely execution of these projects.
Concerned about the overlapping of functions of Municipal Corporation, Improvement Trust, Development Authority, Mr. Badal said that no development work would be executed without clearance from nodal agency. He aghast to learn that without realizing that under Japan project sewerage line has been laid, Improvement Trust and Municipal Corporation on their own laid parallel sewerage lines wasting crore of rupees. He said that we are accountable for every single penny being spent from taxpayers money and we have to make officers accountable for such lax approach.
Badal also asked for centralized control room for operation and maintenance of all tube wells and asked Municipal Corporation to go for Chandigarh Municipal Corporation system. He also expressed concern over 40 over head reservoir lying unused and 383 tube wells instead of 80 directly pumping drinking water to the houses. He said that MC should make optimum usage of tube wells and criminal wastage of electricity on four fold increase in tube wells can not be justified.
Badal said that he was committed for facelift of Amritsar and adjoining areas with the completion of all development projects to be executed at the cost of Rs. 1668 crore in next two years. Reviewing the progress of all ongoing projects and he asked all departments to work in total tandem to avoid any 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 timeline. He reviewed the progress of Rs. 160.60 crore sewerage work of North Zone and asked the department to stick to the timeline of completion of the project by July 2015 and asked the authorities to float tenders for providing 100% water, sewerage network besides relaying the road network in that region. He said that the tender should include condition of providing mandatory connection to every residence and its upkeep and maintenance for next 15 years. The authorities were asked to coordinate with railways for seeking NOC for laying sewerage under railway track at Chehharta. Mr. Badal also expressed concern over tardy execution of Sewerage Treatment Plant in North-South area and asked for immediate steps to complete the projects. He said that he would not tolerate sewerage system to be directed towards open drains.
Laying the foundation stone of covering of Ganda Nullah near Lahori Gate, Mr. Badal said that earlier three phases of covering of ganda nullah has provided great relief to citizens of Amritsar. Badal along with senior officers visited the spot especially where construction of 4 lane Flyover at Kitchlu Chock was to be done at the cost of Rs. 18 crore. He also visited GT Road from Bhandari Bridge to Gateway, Road outside District Courts to Hartej Hospital, Lawrence Road, Rego Bridge, Road from Vijay Chowk to Pul Porian, Road from Hall Gate to Darbar Sahib, Inner Circular Road from Chattiwind Gate to Sultanwind Road, Tarn Taran Road, Ajnala Road, Chabaal Road, Majitha Road, Fatehgarh Churian Road, Mehta Road, Chheharta Main Bazaar and Batala Road to see the possibility of their expansion, rehabilitation for ensuring free flow of traffic. He also reviewed the beautification of Durgiana Mandir at the cost of Rs. 22 crore, construction of sports complex at Ranjit Avenue at the cost of Rs. 17 crore. Stressing the need for improvement of Road Infrastructure in the interior of city, Mr. Badal asked different department to finetune 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.
Expressing concern over delay in operationlisation of Heritage Village in GNDU village Amritsar, Mr. Badal asked PIDB to seek bids for management of the project as construction work was already completed more than 85%. The Tourism Department informed that they would conduct the soft opening of Gobindgarh Fort in the month of October by completing the first phase of the project. The authorities were asked to complete the planning of multi level parking at Wagah/Attari and start the work by August 2013. Badal also gave final touches to comprehensive mobility plan prepared by Consulting Engineers Services India in association with SYSTRA MVA Consulting India. The Authorities were asked to speed up construction of flats for slum dwellers and hand over 80 flats constructed till date to the beneficiaries.
Prominent amongst those present on the occasion included Mr. P.S. Aujla, Principal Secretary to Deputy CM and Secretary PWD, Mr. Ashok Gupta, Secretary Local Government heads of various departments, Mr. Ram Singh, Commissioner of Police Commissioners Municipal Corporation Mr. Bhupinder Singh, Mr. Sandeep Rishi, CEO Improvement Trust and Mr. Jasbir Singh, ADC.