Punjab CM Amarinder Singh demands early clearance of ring roads in cities

New Delhi: Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Thursday urged Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari Minister to clear the ring road projects in the state's major cities.

He also sought early release of the third instalment of the Rs 3.72 crore grant for the Mohali Hitech Metal Cluster and implementation of SFURTI in Hoshiarpur, an official spokesperson said.

Calling on Gadkari here, Amarinder Singh sought his intervention to clear the state's pending projects and approvals under his department, and also invited him to visit the state to help revive the micro, small and medium enterprises.

Gadkari assured the Chief Minister that all issues related to the state pending with his ministries would be looked into and addressed at the earliest.

According to the spokesperson, Amarinder Singh informed the Minister that the state had already conveyed its consent to bear 50 per cent cost of land acquisition for construction of ring roads around major cities of Mohali, Chandigarh, Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Patiala, Sangrur and Bathinda.

The ministry had already approved the ring road around Bathinda, he added.

The Chief Minister also sought the Union Ministry's approval of funds to the tune of Rs 636.45 lakh for appointment of technical consultants for the ring roads project to work out the alignments needed for the roads.

Amarinder Singh also urged Gadkari to facilitate expeditious clearance of the Delhi-Amritsar-Katra Expressway project, for which the Union government has already approved under the plan for constructing 800 km of expressways under the Bharatmala Scheme Phase-I.

The state had requested the ministry time and again for early start of this project but so far even the alignment has not been frozen upon, he lamented.

The Chief Minister said under the Micro and Small Enterprises Cluster Development Programme, due to increase in cost of setting up of Common Facility Centres, the grant should be increased to Rs 20 crore per centre and also the mandatory 10 per cent share of the state government may not be insisted upon.