Rs 50 cr Patti-Makhu rail link: Residents welcome land acquisition notification

Tribune News Service
Amritsar, June 1

City residents have welcomed the gazette notification for land acquisition for Patti-Makhu rail link which will pave way for Amritsar-Ferozepur rail link.

Following the survey, it was found that 70.1 hectares of land is in Tarn Taran and 95.68 hectares of land is in Ferozepur. Now, the state government has permitted land acquisition. Punjab Pradesh Beopar Mandal (PPBM) president Piara Lal Seth said the government had released a grant of Rs 50 crore for the proposed Patti-Makhu rail link, now gazette notification number PWD-BR 307/12/2020/BR31/170259/2021 dated April 19 was issued.

He anticipated that the move would consolidate the city-based businesses like tourism and its manufacturing industries.

A delegation of the PPBM along with OP Soni, now Cabinet Minister, had gone to meet then Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh at New Delhi in 2013 and the demand for the Amritsar-Ferozepur rail link was presented before him. Subsequently, then Union Railway Minister in the UPA Government, Pawan Bansal, had sanctioned the project. The Ministry of Railways approved about Rs 300 crore for the project during the 2017-18 fiscal.

Samir Jain, general secretary of the PPBM, said the government had conducted the survey of the site where the railway track would be laid and it was found that negligible displacement was to be required for laying the track.

Kulwant Singh Ankhi, patron of the Amritsar Vikas Manch, said: “The project is immensely beneficial for the country as it will provide a railway line parallel to the border between India and Pakistan. It will shorten the travelling distance between the holy city and country’s financial capital Mumbai by 240 km. Goods can be delivered at a short duration and tourists can travel in short time states of Punjab, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Jammu and Kashmir. It will reduce the railway rush on Amritsar-Delhi-Mumbai route.