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PM Modi to visit Ferozepur in Punjab, lay foundation stone of projects worth over Rs 42,750 crore – All you need to know


Prime Minister Narendra Modi.&nbsp

Key Highlights

  • The projects include four-laning of the Amritsar-Una section, Mukerian-Talwara broad gauge railway line and two new medical colleges at Kapurthala and Hoshiarpur

  • The Prime Minister will also lay the foundation stone for a new 27-km-long broad gauge railway line between Mukerian and Talwara at a cost of over Rs 410 crore

New Delhi: In the run up to the Assembly elections this year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will on Wednesday visit Punjab’ Ferozepur to lay foundation stones of several development projects to the tune of Rs 42,750 crore, including the Delhi-Amritsar-Katra expressway and a PGI satellite centre.

The projects include four-laning of the Amritsar-Una section, Mukerian-Talwara broad gauge railway line and two new medical colleges at Kapurthala and Hoshiarpur.

“PM Modi will lay the foundation stone of PGI’s satellite centre at Ferozepur in Punjab. This centre will be built at a cost of more than Rs 500 crore. With the construction of this 100-bedded centre, people won’t have to travel to Chandigarh,” Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said.

The Prime Minister’s visit comes at a time when his Bharatiya Janata Party has entered into a poll agreement with former chief minister Amarinder Singh and the Shiromani Akali Dal faction led by Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa to take on the Congress, SAD and the Aam Aadmi Party.

This is Modi’s first visit to the state after the central government withdrew the three contentious farm reform laws that sparked intense protest across Punjab and Haryana. The BJP has been making concerted efforts to woo the Sikh community, who spearheaded the agitation, after the move.

“The PM’s consistent endeavour to improve connectivity across the country has led to multiple national highway development projects being taken up in Punjab. It has resulted in more than doubling the total length of national highways in the state from about 1,700 kilometre in 2014 to more than 4,100 kilometres in 2021. In continuation of such efforts the foundation stone of two major road corridors will be laid in Punjab,” the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) said.

The 669-km-long Delhi-Amritsar-Katra expressway will be constructed at a cost of around Rs 39,500 crore, and will reduce the travel time from Delhi to Amritsar and Delhi to Katra by half.

The greenfield expressway also aims to connect Sikh religious sites at Sultanpur Lodhi, Goindwal Sahib, Khadoor Sahib, Tarn Taran and the holy Hindu shrine of Vaishno Devi in Katra.

It will also connect crucial economic centres such as Ambala-Chandigarh, Mohali, Sangrur, Patiala, Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Kapurthala, Kathua and Samba in Haryana, Chandigarh, Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir.

The cost of four-laning of the 77-km-long Amritsar-Una section is pegged at around 1,700 crore, and will form a part of the larger Amritsar-Bhota corridor connecting northern Punjab and Himachal Pradesh, and also linking four major national highways – Amritsar-Bhatinda-Jamnagar, Delhi-Amritsar-Katra, North-South corridor and the Kangra-Hamirpur-Bilaspur-Shimla corridor.

“This expressway will also improve connectivity in religious sites at Ghoman, Shri Hargobindpur and Pulpukta Town (home to the famous Gurudwara Pulpukta Sahib),” the PMO added.

The Prime Minister will also lay the foundation stone for a new 27-km-long broad gauge railway line between Mukerian and Talwara at a cost of over Rs 410 crore.

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