Union ministry clears ₹3.63-crore grant
JALANDHAR: The Union minister of road transport and highways has cleared the revised estimate of ₹3.63 crore for Jalandhar-Kapurthala road four-laning project.
Jalandhar mayor Sunil Jyoti and state Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) president Vijay Sampla met Union transport minister Nitin Gadkari on Friday.
“We presented a revised draft and requested Gadkari to give clearance to the project, pending from past two years,” said Jyoti.
A fortnight ago, the national highway authority of India (NHAI) had rejected the revised estimate of ₹3.63 crore needed to complete the road work in the 2 and half km stretch of the fourlane project.
Executive engineer PWD (central works) BS Tulli said,“We are yet to receive written communication of the new orders. The project will start in next 15 days.”
Jyoti said that the municipal corporation has spent ₹8.64 crore on the road stretch which includes ₹2 crore sewerage pipeline work carried out last year. “The NHAI will now spend ₹3.63 crore out of the estimated ₹5.11 crore. The rest of the funds has already been spent by local bodies department,” said Jyoti.
The total cost of the project is ₹11.28 crore. Sukhbir Singh Badal had inaugurated the project in 2014.
The project was later shelved.The business of over 500 industries along theJa land harKap ur th ala road is affected due to the unfinished project.
Jyoti who also met the state railway minister Manoj Sinha asked the latter to expedite the sewerage pipelines works through railway line in Sheetal Nagar.
Mayor Jyoti said that Sinha assured them that railway division officials will soon hold a meeting with MCJ to complete the work.
₹263 CRORE ALLOTED FOR ELEVATED BRIDGE IN PHAGWARA
PHAGWARA: The union ministry of road transport and highways has approved construction of the elevated bridge in Phagwara (Jalandhar-Phagwara stretch). The work for the same was on a standstill for the last two years due to political tussles.The construction work of elevated bridge will start in August.
After Union minister and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) state chief Vijay Sampla intervened, the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) sent a detailed project report to the ministry for approval in May. Sampla, while addressing the media persons here on Saturday said that the Union ministry approved construction of elevated road and alloted ₹ 263 crore.
He said, “As per the approved plan, an elevated road and extravehicular underpass will also be constructed on the stretch to connect the civil hospital with national highway.”
The proposal for an elevated road in Phagwara was floated by Sampla in 2015. But it was scraped by the NHAI in 2016 after BJP Phagwara MLA Som Parkash met Union minister demanding amendments in the project.
Parkash earlier demanded the construction of a solid earthfilled road with an extravehicular underpass but later gave thumbs up for an elevated road as to the project was hanging fire for last two years.