Kurali-Siswan road inaugurated

Tribune News Service

Kurali, January 30

The Punjab Government will connect all major cities by four lane and six lane roads in the next two years. After making the state power surplus, the government has now shifted its focus to develop necessary infrastructure to attract investors and accelerate the development in the landlocked state.

It was stated by Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal after inaugurating the Kurali-Siswan road, constructed at a cost of Rs 75 crore today.

The newly constructed road would facilitate people travelling from the Doaba and Majha regions of Punjab to Chandigarh and Himachal Pradesh. This would also accelerate the growth of New Chandigarh, the Deputy CM said.

He said Union Minister for Roads and Highway Nitin Gadkari had announced road projects worth Rs 18,000 crore for Punjab. This would help in strengthening the road network and providing momentum to the development of the state, he claimed. He also listed the approved roads that include four-laning of the Amritsar-Bathinda highway (at a cost of Rs 3,800 crore), the Jalandhar-Moga road (Rs 1,500 crore), the Moga-Barnala road (Rs 500 crore), the Jalandhar-Hoshiarpur road up to the Himachal Pradesh border (Rs 1,000 crore), the Chandigarh-Ludhiana road (Rs 2,000 crore), the Kurali-Kharar road (Rs 300 crore), the Rupnagar-Phagwara road (Rs 1,000 crore), the Ladowal bypass (Rs 315 crore), the Amritsar-Attari road (Rs 250 crore) and the Samrala–Ludhiana road (Rs 1,000 crore).

The construction work on all these projects would be initiated by December end. The SAD-BJP alliance would register a massive win in the ensuing municipal elections on the development agenda in the state, Sukhbir said.

Replying to a question about the expected date of announcement of municipal elections, he said the Punjab Government had suggested probable dates to the State Election Commission. Moreover, it was the prerogative of the commission to decide and announce the schedule.

He stressed that the state machinery had been geared up for free and fair elections in the state.

Sukhbir added that the Congress was no more a challenge to the SAD-BJP combine as people of Punjab had rejected the party in all previous elections due to their “directionless and anti-Punjab stance”.