Shelved Panchagram project makes way for Dashagram

With its ambitious Panchagram plan failing to take off, Haryana is now planning for ‘Dashagram’ — an array of 10 industrial towns across the state.

Advertisement

CM Nayab Singh Saini, who was in Gurugram on Tuesday, to chair a key meeting for Metro expansion under Gurugram Metro Rail Limited (GMRL) from the Millennium City Centre to the Railway Station, Sector 22, and Cyber City in Gurugram.

Industry Minister Rao Narbir Singh and former MLA Bimla Chaudhary were also present at the meeting. In principle, the transition of Panchagram into a new plan to set up 10 industrial towns was approved at the meeting.

The stakeholders have been asked to identify the key potential areas, and the government would table the Bill for its formation in the next Assembly session.

Sources claim that the towns would be pivoted along the KMP and other expressways, though it is still not clear whether the pre-approved sites of Panchgram would be a part of it.

“We had promised to set up 10 industrial towns right before the elections, and now we are working on it. You can say that the Panchgram plan approved in 2018 will be transformed and tweaked to meet the needs of today. These towns will be spread across the state to bring about development and employment to the remotest areas. We will start identifying the key locations,” said Rao Narbir Singh.

To attract more investments, the state is also planning a single-window system for industries to get them everything, right from permission to CLU. Panchgram was former CM ML Khattar’s dream project, where five urban centres and industrial townships were to be developed over 2.5 lakh hectares along the alignment of the 135-km Kundli-Manesar-Palwal (KMP) Expressway, to reshape the outline of the NCR falling in Haryana.

It aimed to utilise the land from eight districts of Gurgaon, Faridabad, Palwal, Mewat, Rewari, Sonepat, Rohtak and Jhajjar. Though initially few villages were identified in Gurugram in this regard, no major progress was made. According to sources, the project pivoted around the NCR district failed feasibility tests and was shelved.

Finally, expansion of Gurugram Metro

After a wait of almost a decade, the Gurugram Metro expansion will finally see the light of day. CM Nayab Saini has announced that the construction of the new Metro line will start from May 1 and the tender process will be completed by January 31. A total investment of Rs 5,452.72 crore will be allocated for the project, and it will take four years to complete it.