Jalandhar-K’thala road to be completed in two months

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, August 16

To provide relief to the commuters travelling towards Kapurthala from the city, Member of Parliament from Jalandhar Chaudhary Santokh Singh today announced the construction of Jalandhar-Kapurthala road to be completed within two months.

Addressing a gathering after inaugurating work for the removal of electricity poles on the road under the Member of Parliament Local Area Development (MPLAD) scheme fund, Chaudhary, accompanied by Deputy Commissioner Varinder Kumar Sharma and MLAs Sushil Kumar Rinku and Rajinder Beri, said the PSPCL would execute the work at a cost of Rs 25.5 lakh, to be paid from the MPLAD fund.

Lauding the Deputy Commissioner for taking keen interest in the project, the MP said he had already released the amount for undertaking the work and directed the authorities to complete the work of shifting the poles and constructing the road within two months, so that commuters do not face any inconvenience.

Chaudhary said he had approached Union Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari to enhance the estimate for the construction of the road after which its estimate was increased to Rs 4.29 crore. However, he said that since the amount of Rs 25.50 lakh required for shifting of poles was not included in it, work on the project was hanging fire. The MP said as the PSPCL did not have the required funds, so he had released it from MPLAD amount.

Chaudhary said this was a major bottleneck in the execution of the project due to which he had released the MPLAD funds to give relief to the people. He said this would smoothen traffic besides giving boost to the economy of the region. “We are fully committed to helping the people by completing the work at the earliest,” the MP added.

Speaking on the occasion, Deputy Commissioner Varinder Kumar Sharma said regular monitoring would be done to ensure that the work on this prestigious work was executed in a time-bound manner. He assured the officers of the PSPCL and the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) that the district administration would provide support for the smooth and prompt execution of this ambitious project.

The DC said the project was of immense significance as it connects the rest of Punjab with the heritage town of Kapurthala and Science City besides the holy shrines of Sultanpur Lodhi, Goindwal Sahib, Khadoor Sahib and Tarn Taran.

Expressing gratitude to the MP, MLA Sushil Kumar Rinku lauded Chaudhary Santokh Singh and the DC and slammed the previous Akali-BJP government for lingering over the project. Rinku claimed the Congress government was committed to giving a major facelift to the entire region, especially Jalandhar city.