Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Punjab on January 5 and lay the foundation stone of multiple developmental projects worth more than Rs 42,750 crore in the state. These projects include Delhi-Amritsar-Katra Expressway, four laning of Amritsar – Una section, Mukerian - Talwara New Broad Gauge railway line, PGI Satellite Centre at Ferozepur and two new medical colleges at Kapurthala and Hoshiarpur, said the Prime Minister’s Office in a statement.
Modi's visit assumes significance as the state is headed for assembly polls, and the BJP has joined hands with former chief minister Amarinder Singh and the Akali faction headed by Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa to take on rival parties.
The PMO said that the consistent endeavour of the prime minister to improve connectivity all across the country has led to multiple national highway development initiatives being taken up in Punjab. “It has resulted in more than doubling the total length of National highways in the state from about 1700 kilometre in 2014 to more than 4100 kilometres in 2021,” it said.
The 669 km long Delhi-Amritsar-Katra Expressway will be developed at a total cost of about Rs 39,500 crore. It will halve travel time from Delhi to Amritsar and Delhi to Katra. The Greenfield Expressway will connect key Sikh religious sites at Sultanpur Lodhi, Goindwal Sahib, Khadoor Sahib, Tarn Taran and the shrine of Vaishno Devi in Katra. The expressway will also connect key economic centres like Ambala Chandigarh, Mohali,Sangrur, Patiala, Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Kapurthala, Kathua and Samba in the three states/UTs of Haryana, Chandigarh, Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir.
The four-laning of Amritsar-Una section will be done at a cost of around Rs 1,700 crore. The 77 km long section is part of the larger Amritsar to Bhota corridor spanning across the longitudinal expanse of Northern Punjab and Himachal Pradesh, connecting four major national highways—Amritsar-Bhatinda-Jamnagar Economic Corridor, Delhi–Amritsar–Katra Expressway, North-South Corridor and Kangra-Hamirpur-Bilaspur-Shimla Corridor. It will help in improving the connectivity of religious sites at Ghoman, Shri Hargobindpur and Pulpukta Town.
The prime minister will lay the foundation stone of a new broad gauge railway line between Mukerian and Talwara of around 27 km in length, to be built at a cost of over Rs 410 crore. The railway line will be an extension of Nangal Dam-Daulatpur Chowk railway section. According to the PMO, this project also holds strategic importance as it will serve as an alternative route to Jammu and Kashmir, joining the existing Jalandhar-Jammu Railway line at Mukerian. The project will prove especially beneficial for the people of Hoshiarpur in Punjab and Una in Himachal Pradesh. It will give a boost to tourism in the region, and provide ease of connectivity to hill stations as well as to places of religious importance.
“In line with the Prime Minister’s endeavour to provide world class medical facilities in all parts of the country, foundation stone of new medical infrastructure in three towns of Punjab will be laid,” the statement said.
The 100 bedded PGI Satellite Centre at Ferozepur, will be built at a cost of more than Rs 490 crore. It will provide services in 10 specialities including Internal Medicine, General Surgery, Orthopedics, Plastic Surgery, Neurosurgery, Obstetrics & Gynaecology, Paediatrics, Ophthalmology, ENT and Psychiatry-Drug De-addiction. The satellite centre will provide world class medical facilities at Ferozepur and the nearby areas, it said.
