Residents, NGOs welcome slew of projects

Neeraj Bagga

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, August 14

City residents are upbeat after the Chief Minister, Capt Amarinder Singh, today announced a slew of welfare and development schemes for the holy city to put it into a higher-growth trajectory.

Amritsar Vikas Manch (AVM) president Kulwant Singh Ankhi welcomed the announcement of construction of Railway Overbridges (ROBs) at level crossings on the Amritsar-Mehta road at Vallah, level crossing No. S-23 on the Amritsar-Attari railway crossing from Putligar Chowk towards Islamabad and another at Jodda Phatak.

The ROBs at Vallah and Putlighar will be undertaken at a cost of Rs 62 crore.

Ankhi said there had been a long-pending demand to raise the ROBs. He appreciated the announcement of the Amritsar City Development Plan at Rs 171.90 crore that would involve construction of an ROB at Jaura Phatak, construction of a flyover from HP Petrol Pump (Batala Road) to Majitha Road at Sant Singh Sukhs Singh Chowk, extension of the existing ROB (Bhandari Bridge), improvement of the façade from the Hall gate to Town Hall and back to Pink Plaza as well as five multi-level parkings at Kairon Market, Machhi Mandi near the Hall gate, near Old Telephone Exchange and outside the Hall gate.

Harpinder Singh Walia, a resident of New Golden Avenue, said level crossings at Jodda phatak (twin gates) over the Amritsar-Jammu and the Amritsar-Delhi lines resulted in their closure most of the time.

He said densely populated localities were situated on both sides and people had to suffer traffic jams for longer hours.

A hotelier, Randhir Singh, said setting up of a Unified Tourism Information and Facilitation Centre would promote tourism in the city.

He said with several tourist projects becoming functional, it was necessary to promote them among tourists and maintain them.

He said the plan to set up public toilets at 17 places in the city, beautification work around Sri Durgiana Mandir and de-congestion of traffic around Ghee Mandi through construction of slip roads and redesigning of congested roundabouts would help devotees to reach Golden Temple conveniently.

Punjab Sudhar Sabha president Balram Kumar Sharma said construction of a Multipurpose Sports and Recreation Facility on 26 acres of the Improvement Trust land at Ranjit Avenue on the Bypass Road would help the youth to wean away from drugs.