Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Monday ordered the Finance Department to immediately release Rs. 23 Crores for expansion of the Sohana-Landran-Chunni road, while directing his Chief Principal Secretary to issue instructions for urgent completion of all pending development projects in the state.Chairing a meeting to review the functioning and ongoing projects of Public Works Department (PWD) Building and Road, the Chief Minister assured that all required funds would be provided for development works. He ordered the Finance Department to make available the necessary funds for decongestion of Landran junction.Underscoring the importance of strengthening the quality control mechanisms in order to rejuvenate the engineering department, the Chief Minister accepted a proposal by the department to undertake a study to ascertain the feasibility of a World Bank Concept report on capacity building enhancement in procurement, engineering and integration of all engineering processes in the state.
The Chief Minister also agreed to relook the state notification on felling of trees along state highways, causing road projects to be stalled. The government will take up the matter with NGT, he said. Earlier, Secretary PWD Hussan Lal informed the Chief Minister about the pending 4 laning of Jalandhar-Hoshiarpur due to ban imposed by National Green Tribunal (NGT) ON cutting of trees on both sides of the highways. Underlining the need to urgently upgrade the existing road infrastructure in the state, the Chief Minister directed the officials to focus on sustainable improvement in the overall road travel experience of commuters. The Chief Minister also ordered his Finance Secretary to ensure streamlining of all engineering processes to prevent any duplicity in projects.Captain Amarinder ordered stringent compliance to all engineering guidelines for ensuring earthquake resistant design structures in all government buildings projects.On the issue of linking of major cities of Punjab with Ring Roads, Captain Amarinder asked officials to come up with a plan and submit a proposal. Such connectivity would act as great impetus for the overall development of business and industry, he added.
The Chief Minister also reviewed the progress of other ongoing projects, including 4-laning of Zirakpur-Patiala, Patiala-Sangrur-Bhatinda, Sangrur-Patran, Amritsar-Harike-Faridkot-Bhatinda.Secretary PWD also informed the Chief Minister about the completion of more than 92% of repair works of 1838 Kms of Link Roads at a cost of Rs.219 Crores and special repair of 86 works of 840 kms of Plan Roads.Prominent among others who attended the meeting were State Minister PWD B & R Razia Sultana, Media Advisor to CM Raveen Thukral, Technical Advisor to CM Lt. Gen. (Retd.) B S Dhaliwal, Chief Principal Secretary to CM Suresh Kumar, Principal Secretary to CM Tejveer Singh, Principal Secretary Finance Anirudh Tewari, Special Secretary PWD Madhvi Kataria, Secretary PWD Hussan Lal, Chief Architect Punjab Mrs. Sapna, besides Ashok Singla, Arvinder Singh, Vijay Chopra, Jaswinder Singh Maan, all Chief Engineers.