Urban Haat expected to be functional soon

AMRITSAR: A Bathinda-based private firm is all set to make the Urban Haat functional within a few months. Constructed with an aim to boost the city’s tourism, the replica of the famous Lahore Food Street has been crying for attention of the Amritsar Development Authority for long as project is non-functional even three years after its inauguration.

The Urban Haat has been ignored for years. Photo: Sunil Kumar

Charanjit Singh Teja

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, March 16

A Bathinda-based private firm is all set to make the Urban Haat functional within a few months. Constructed with an aim to boost the city’s tourism, the replica of the famous Lahore Food Street has been crying for attention of the Amritsar Development Authority for long as project is non-functional even three years after its inauguration.

The Amritsar Development Authority (ADA) had sublet it to a Bathinda-based firm in November 2018. The company will pay Rs 81 lakh annually to the ADA and has rights to accommodate food brands.

Charanjit Singh, Sub-Divisional Officer, ADA, said, “We have given the company time to make arrangements. The ADA will start collecting rent from July 11.”

Amarjit Singh, owner of the firm, said, “We have all set to make the Urban Haat functional. The first phase will be inaugurated on August 15. The company will start its marketing process next month. A large number of multinational brands will open their outlets.”

It is worth mentioning here that then BJP-SAD government in the state had restored and revamped the abandoned 124-year-old colonial-era building of Victoria Jubilee Hospital in consultation with the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage to attract tourists to taste Amritsar’s cuisine in 2015.

The project was inaugurated by the then deputy chief minister, Sukhbir Singh Badal, in May 2016 amidst much fanfare by organising Amritsar Heritage Festival in which people from 20 different states had taken part.