Urban projects worth Rs 1,087 cr unveiled

Chandigarh, February 22

Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh on Monday virtually laid the foundation stone and inaugurated a slew of projects worth Rs 1,087 crore for the holistic development of the urban areas under the Smart City and AMRUT schemes.

He urged the Central Government to include the holy city of Anandpur Sahib under the Smart City scheme, as a tribute to Guru Tegh Bahadur on his 400th birth anniversary. Thanking the people of the state for their overwhelming support to the Congress in the recently concluded civic elections, Amarinder Singh said the mandate was a vindication of the pro-people policies of his government.

Pointing out that while the Congress won 1,410 of the 2,206 wards (64 per cent), the Chief Minister said that all opposition parties had been decimated because of their "anti-people and vicious negative agendas".

He lambasted the earlier Akali-BJP regime for ignoring the development of the urban areas and expressed confidence that the launch of these projects will drive sustainable progress in these regions. The Chief Minister said that he was particularly delighted to lay the foundation stone for the Rs 721 crore surface water supply scheme for Amritsar city, his erstwhile Parliamentary constituency. This scheme would ensure access to clean drinking water to the residents of the holy city, instead of the contaminated and fast-depleting groundwater. — TNS