The Governor of Punjab Gulab Chand Kataria recently chaired an important meeting with senior representatives from National Highway Authority of India (NHAI), Railways, Airports Authority of India and telecom provider BSNL. The objective of this meeting was to assess the progress of major infrastructure initiatives undertaken by central government in the state.
The meeting gains significance as Centre has recently warned of scrapping highway projects in Punjab due to delays in land acquisition. Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann has also scheduled a meeting with farmers next week to address their concerns regarding land procurement for highway construction in Gurdaspur and Tarn Taran.
During the interaction, Governor Kataria directed officials to expedite all projects without any preventable lags. He emphasized on bringing to notice in written form any issues hampering timely execution so that appropriate solutions can be found. It was also decided that progress review session will now take place every quarter and periodic status updates on projects will be shared in writing.
The discussion covered key initiatives like developing alternate routes to ease traffic congestion in Chandigarh. NHAI representatives stated connecting highways from Panchkula to Shimla and Majri to Baddi would alleviate the problem significantly. Governor also proposes running Jammu-Tawi train daily considering tourism value of Udaipur, Chandigarh and Jammu region.
AIR officials shared plans for proposed road linking Chandigarh airport, which is expected to shorten distance by 10km. BSNL representatives updated on their ongoing network expansion. The Governor stressed on timely and smooth implementation of central projects in Punjab.
