Three months after Gadkari, Sukhbir opens same project

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, December 21

More than three months after Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari laid the foundation stone of the Phagwara-Ropar four-laning project, it was again done by Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal today in the form of a ‘bhoomi pujan’ ceremony.

On September 14, Gadkari had held a stone-laying programme at Ropar.

Today, Sukhbir chose Khatkar Kalan, ancestral village of freedom fighter Bhagat Singh, for the ceremony. He also paid homage at the martyr’s memorial.

He announced that the project for the 80-km stretch of the road would be completed in 2.5 years.

Within 20 minutes, Sukhbir wound up the show — paying homage, performing the ceremony and even addressing the rally.

XEN PWD Balwinder Singh said that the process of land acquisition had been started and award fixation was at different stages. “The cost of the project is Rs 1,444 crore. Of it, Rs 1,075 crore will be the project cost and the remaining will be the land acquisition cost,” he said.