PATTIMAKHU RAIL LINK: STATE GIVES NOD TO LAND ACQUISITION

AMRITSAR: Traders and businessmen of the holy city are happy as the Punjab government has reportedly given approval to land acquisition for Patti-Makhu rail link project, which will shorten the distance between Amritsar and Mumbai by 249km.

The Union government has earmarked ₹299 crore for laying down of 25km-long railway line in the 2017-18 budget, but the project was delayed as the state government is responsible to provide land for the same. As per assessment conducted by the deputy commissioners of Tarn Taran and Ferozpur district, the acquisition will cost around ₹40 crore. In view of demand of the traders and industrialists’ associations, the state government has now given green signal to the process of land acquisition for laying down of the railway track.

“A delegation of traders and industrialists’ associations met chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh at Punjab Bhawan on August 4, seeking that the work on the project should be initiated soon.

He reassured that ₹40 crore has been approved and the work will be started soon,” said Punjab Pardesh Veopar Mandal president, Pyare Lal Seth.

He further added that the PattiMakhu rail link will boost trade, business, tourism and industry in Amritsar as well as in Jammu and Kashmir, and Himachal Pardesh, as it will be a crucial railway link from this region to Rajasthan, Gujarat and Maharashtra.

“The railway line will also be a second defence line along the Indo-Pak international border,” he added.

Rajya Sabha MP Shwait Malik, who had earlier blamed the Captain government for delay in the project, has welcomed the move during a meeting with the traders and businessmen at his residence.

The then railway minister, Pawan Kumar Bansal, had announced this rail link in the 2013 budget, during the UPA government. The new rail link will also shorten the distance between Amritsar and Ferozepur by 32km.