Amarinder announces Rs 3,000-cr drinking water scheme for Amritsar

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, August 14

Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh on Monday announced a slew of welfare and development schemes for Amritsar, including a Rs 3,000 crore World Bank-aided project to provide surface-water-based drinking water supply system in the city.

The surface water scheme will replace the existing groundwater-based drinking water supply scheme, thus addressing a serious concern of the region, which is facing severe depletion of groundwater and cases of vector-borne diseases.

Announcing this at a press conference here, the Chief Minister also announced several new development projects, entailing Rs 556.9 crore, for Amritsar, which is being developed as a Smart City at a Rs 200 crore investment, of which Rs 100 crore will be shared by the state government.

(Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd)

The Chief Minister announced the establishment of a Directorate of Fire Services at state level in Amritsar, along with 50% seat reservation for women in urban local bodies (ULBs), in line with his government’s decision to make such reservation across the state.

Another key decision of the government relates to provision of free homes for the homeless people and subsidised houses for the economically weaker section under the Shehri Aawas Yojana.

The Chief Minister also announced devolution of proprietary rights to old tenants on residential and commercial properties of municipal bodies, besides one-time settlement of old arrears of water and sewerage charges and property/house tax.

Amarinder said as part of his government’s decision to place greater emphasis on e-governance in the delivery of Urban Civic Services, most of the civic services in Amritsar would soon be made available through mobile applications.

Besides the ongoing works in Amritsar under the Rs 75 crore Urban Mission, the Chief Minister also announced several new projects under the PIDB for the development of Amritsar, entailing a total cost of Rs 110 crore.

These include the construction of a two-lane road from NH-54 to Amritsar-Bhikhiwind-Khem Karan Road (Bohru village) at a cost of Rs 22 crore, besides Mata Ganga Ji Marg connecting Amritsar-Jhabhal Road to Gurdwara Baba Budha Ji along UBDC (Rs 26 crore).

Amarinder told mediapersons that the construction of the ROB at level crossing on Amritsar-Mehta Road at Vallah would be undertaken at a cost of Rs 32 crore, in addition to a Rs 30 crore project for ROB/RUB at level crossing No S-23 on Amritsar-Attari railway line crossing from Putligar Chowk towards Islamabad.

The Chief Minister also announced a Rs 171.9 crore Amritsar City Development Plan that would involve construction of ROB/Under Bridge at Jaura Phatak, construction of flyover from HP Petrol Pump (Batala Road) to Majitha Road at 4S Chowk, extension of existing ROB (Bhandari bridge), improvement of façade from Hall Gate to Town Hall and back to Pink Plaza, as well as five multi-level parkings at various places (Kairon Market, Machhi Mandi near Hall Gate, Near Old Telephone Exchange and O/s Hall Gate).

A Unified Tourism Information and Facilitation Centre would be set up for promotion of Tourism in Amritsar City, besides construction of a Multipurpose Sports and Recreation Facility on 26 acres of Improvement Trust land at Ranjit Avenue on the Bye Pass Road, the Chief Minister announced.

He announced plans to set up Public Toilets/Lavatories at 17 places in Amritsar City, beautification works around Sri Durgiana Mandir and decongestion of the traffic around Ghee Mandi through construction of slip roads and redesigning of congested roundabouts.