Chandigarh, May 26: In a bid to ensure holistic developmentof Patiala Heritage City, the Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh onWednesday asked the Deputy Commissioner to speed up the ongoing canal basedwater supply project with an investment of Rs.468 crore for ensuring potabledrinking water supply to the residents of city with a direction to formulate aplan to cover all colonies in and around the city under this scheme.
He also directed all the line departments to work in tandemfor speedy completion of these ongoing major projects including canal basedwater supply, new bus stand, Sports University, rejuvenation of choti and badinadi besides sprucing up the heritage street.
Reviewing the progress of ongoing development works in thePatiala city, the Chief Minister asked the Deputy Commissioner to personallymonitor the progress of these projects and update him regularly to ensure itstimely execution.
Earlier making a detailed presentation on the developmentworks, the Deputy Commissioner Patiala informed the Chief Minister that 60% ofthe work on canal based water supply project would be completed by the globallyacclaimed L&T Infrastructure Company by March, 2022.
Regarding the status new bus stand and workshop with anoutlay of nearly Rs.60 crore, the Principal Secretary Public Works informedthat the bus stand over an area of 6.31 acre would be completed by November2021 while the workshop over 2.20 acre by March 2022. He also informed that fordirect entry of buses into the new bus stand, PWD (B&R) has already gotapproval for construction of new flyover from Punjab Infrastructure DevelopmentBoard (PIDB) under UEIP-Phase 2 at a cost of Rs.7.70 crore.
Meanwhile, responding to the issue raised by Chairman PRTCfor purchase of new buses, the Chief Minister asked the Principal SecretaryTransport to immediately clear the pending proposal in this regard. Actingswiftly on the direction of the Chief Minister, Principal Secretary Transportconveyed concurrence to PRTC for purchase of 255 new buses in its fleet.
The Chief Minister also directed the Finance Department toimmediately release Rs.2.18 crore for Phase-1 of Dairy Shifting Project comingup at village Ablowal, which is already in the advanced stage of completionbesides another Rs.10.37 crore for Phase-2 of this project.
To further boost the construction of upcoming MaharajaBhupinder Singh Punjab Sports University over an area of 100 acre in villageSidhuwal, the Chief Minister asked the Finance Department to immediately grantsanction for filling requisite post of teaching faculty so as to make theuniversity fully functional besides giving approval for funds worth Rs.60 crorefor the construction of university.
It was also informed in the meeting that the Phase-1 of 2 kmstretch of heritage street from Samania Gate to Qila Mubarak 'A tank' beingdeveloped within the walled city to showcase rich cultural legacy of Patialacity would be completed by June 30 and subsequently the remaining part shortly.Likewise, the redevelopment of Patiala's choti nadi and badi nadi has beentaken up as a part of its conservation plan. Nearly 35% work on the choti nadihas already been done and its entire stretch would be completed by November,2021. Likewise, the work on the badi nadi would begin on ground by June, 2021as its design and other requirements have been finalized and likely to becompleted soon.
Taking part in the deliberations, Local Government MinisterBrahm Mohindra highly appreciated the visionary leadership of Captain AmarinderSingh for overall development of Patiala city as most of these projects whichwere blatantly ignored by the previous government are now being implemented inthe right earnest to cherish the aspirations of the local residents.
The Chief Minister also asked the Financial CommissionerRural Development & Panchayats to soon tie up with the country's leadingcompanies engaged in setting up of rendering plants for disposal of animalcarcasses at village Badshahpur in Patiala district.
The meeting was also informed that a bioremediation planthas been set up at dump site in Sanouri Adda to get rid of the 25 years oldaccumulated legacy waste to the tune of 1.75 MT. The work on project started onJuly 2020 is expected to clear the entire lot of waste by May 2022 thoughMunicipal Corporation expects to finish it much earlier as 40% of work hasalready been done. It was also informed that 22% work of cleaning of inner nala(drain) within the city has been completed.
On the renovation of Mohindra Kothi and shifting of MedalGallery and Coins Museum, the Deputy Commissioner informed the Chief Ministerthat the entire project at a cost of Rs.9.35 crore was already near completion.
The Chief Minister also directed PSPCL to immediately startthe work for upgradation of all overhead electrical cables and transformers inthe walled city of Patiala to ensure smooth vehicular traffic and safety ofresidents. He also asked the PWD (B&R) to immediately workout an actionplan for renovation of existing residences, for senior and junior doctors ofGovernment Medical College and Rajindra Hospital, which were already indilapidated condition. He also directed the Principal Secretary PWD (B&R)for work out a proposal for construction of new houses/flats for nursing staff,Group C & D employees working there.
Meanwhile, the Principal Secretary PWD (B&R) informedthat the upcoming nursing hostel, new dental block at Medical College and theconstruction of the boundary wall of sports university would be completed byJuly 2021.
Captain Amarinder Singh also asked the Deputy Commissionerto work out modalities to find suitable land to be given to the remainingbeneficiaries under BASERA scheme (Punjab Proprietary Rights to Slum Dwellers)in consultation with local Municipal Corporation.
Prominent amongst others who attended the meeting included;Member Parliament from Patiala Preneet Kaur, Local Government Minister BrahmMohindra, Chairman PRTC K.K. Sharma, Mayor Patiala Municipal CorporationSanjeev Sharma, Chief Secretary Vini Mahajan, ACS Tourism Sanjay Kumar,Financial Commissioner Rural Development & Panchayats Seema Jain, PrincipalSecretary Transport K Siva Prasad, Principal Secretary Finance KAP Sinha,Principal Secretary Housing & Urban Development Sarvjit Singh, PrincipalSecretary Medical Education & Research DK Tiwari, Principal Secretary LocalGovernment Ajoy Kumar Sinha, Principal Secretary PWD (B&R) Vikas Pratap, CEOPMIDC Ajoy Sharma, Deputy Commissioner Patiala Kumar Amit and CommissionerMunicipal Corporation Patiala Poonamdeep Kaur.