Return gift for Jalandhar, Mann govt approves ₹108.9-cr for devp

: Three days after Jalandhar handed it its only Lok Sabha seat in the byelection, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government announced a special grant of ₹108.9 crore for developing the constituency.

The announcement was made after chief minister Bhagwant Mann chaired a cabinet meeting at Punjab Armed Police (PAP) headquarters in Jalandhar on Wednesday.

Of total funds, ₹95.16 crore will be spent in the area under justification of Jalandhar municipal corporation, while ₹13.74 crore on the construction of Jalandhar-Hoshiarpur highway.

The funds to Jalandhar MC will also help the administration to complete the pending development works ahead of the civic body elections.

He said that the Jalandhar victory had boosted the AAP’s spirits. “It is not only the party’s victory because I consider it my personal win as I had personally appealed to people of Jalandhar to give us 11 months more for continuing constructive development of the state,” the CM said.

The AAP ended the supremacy of the Congress on the Jalandhar parliamentary seat after its candidate Rinku got the better of Congress’ Karamjit Kaur Chaudhary by 58,691 votes. The Congress remained undefeated in this constituency since 1999 before the AAP breached the Congress stronghold with the result of this bypoll on May 13.

After a the cabinet meeting, Mann said another demand of rural voters of resuming construction on the Jalandhar-Adampur-Hoshiarpur NH and flyover has been fulfilled. He said the state government will take over the project and resume construction of the project from today at a cost of ₹13.74 crore. It will be completed by September this year, the CM said.