Amit Shah in Chandigarh on March 27

Dushyant Singh Pundir

Chandigarh, March 23

The date of the visit of Union Home Minister Amit Shah to the city has been finalised. Earlier, he was expected to arrive here on March 25, but now he is scheduled to reach the city on March 27.

Ahead of his visit, preparations are on in full swing and the final touches are being given to the projects to be inaugurated by the Home Minister.

The Home Minister is likely to inaugurate projects worth nearly Rs500 crore, including the Rs199-crore Integrated Command and Control Centre (ICCC) in Sector 17, a new building of the Chandigarh Housing Board constructed at a cost of Rs60 crore, 336 houses constructed for police personnel at a cost of nearly Rs70 crore, Rs17-crore project for supplying canal water to villages on the pattern of the city, a hostel block of Commerce College in Sector 50 built at the cost of Rs15 crore, two government schools at Makhan Majra and Raipur Kalan constructed at the cost of Rs20 crore and an Urban Park in Sector 17 built for Rs10 crore.

Besides, Shah will also lay the foundation stone of a project for building 246 houses for police personnel.

The UT will also take up various long-pending issues, including leasehold to freehold of industrial and commercial properties and finalisation of recruitment rules, with the Home Minister. The issue of notification of the eco-sensitive zone (ESZ) around Sukhna Lake by the neighbouring states of Punjab and Haryana could also be taken up at the meeting. Despite repeated requests, both governments are yet to notify the ESZ around the lake.

The conversion of leasehold industrial and commercial properties to freehold units has been pending for long with the Ministry of Home Affairs.