Chandigarh, July 18-
Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Monday asked the officers of the Public Works Department (PWD) to expedite work on all ongoing projects in the state along with initiating and completing the other ones for giving major boost to the infrastructural development.
Chairing a review meeting of the department here at his official residence, the Chief Minister asked the officials to accord top priority to all approved and sanctioned works for their timely completion. He directed the PWD officials to ensure proper checks at every stage of the projects to ensure good quality of the works. Bhagwant Mann said that department should strictly adhere to the prescribed specifications for ensuring quality construction, maintenance and repair of the upcoming projects.
Chief Minister directed the officers to ensure that work for starting construction of Delhi-Amritsar-Katra National Highway is put on fast-track mode. He said that this is an ambitious project, which once, completed will save time, money and energy of commuters travelling from Delhi to Punjab and Jammu-Kashmir especially those desirous of paying obeisance at Mata Vaishno Devi shrine. Bhagwant Mann said that the 254 kilometer long highway will be constructed at a cost Rs 11,510 crore and will pass through nine districts of the state viz. Jalandhar, Sangrur, Malerkotla, Patiala, Kapurthala, Ludhiana, Amritsar, Tarn Taran and Gurdaspur.
Dwelling on another issue the Chief Minister asked the department to complete the work on construction of Aam Aadmi Clinics as per the fixed deadline. He said that these ambitious clinics are to be dedicated to the people on the coming Independence Day. Bhagwant Mann envisioned that these clinics will act as catalyst for providing quality health care services to people.
The Chief Minister also asked the department to speed up the process for starting work on construction of Sant Attar Singh State Institute of Medical Sciences at Sangrur. He said that coming up at a cost of Rs 350 crore this project will be instrumental in ensuring quality health services to state especially the Malwa region. Bhagwant Mann said that this project must be started on war footing to immediately give relief to people.
Reviewing other projects, the Chief Minister also directed the officers to complete the ongoing projects of Sri Guru Teg Bahadur Law University, Kairon (Tarn Taran), Sri Guru Ravidass Memorial Khuralgarh, Garhshankar (Hoshiarpur), Maharaja Bhupinder Singh Sports University, Patiala, Sri Guru Gobind Singh ji Skill Institute, Sri Chamkaur Sahib, Center of Interfaith Studies in Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar and New Bus Stand and Flyover for Entry of Buses at Patiala. He said that sizeable work on these projects has already been completed and remaining work should also be completed soon.
The Chief Minister also underscored the need for strengthening and widening of the planned roads, link roads and other roads network. He said that performance based contracts should be encouraged both in building and road projects adding that regular provision for maintenance of all government assets should be ensured. Bhagwant Mann also batted for creation of online repository of government assets (Roads, Bridges & Buildings) so as to effectively manage and monitor them.
The Chief Minister also said that all link roads should be designed in consonance with specifications and guidelines of Pradhan Mantri Graham Sadak Yojna (PMGSY) so as to sustain five years life cycle. He also said that training and refresher courses should be ensured for the working engineers in the Department to update their expertise. Bhagwant Mann also underlined the need for creating an online centralized knowledge repository for State Engineering Departments.
Meanwhile, during the meeting, Principal Secretary PWD Anurag Verma informed the Chief Minister that for the construction of High-Speed Economic Corridors, the State Government has collaborated with National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) for construction of Expressway, Greenfield Corridors and Bypasses and these projects have been put on a fast-track mode. He also apprised the Chief Minister that for stringent quality control three additional Regional Laboratories are proposed at Amritsar, Hoshiarpur and Bathinda. Likewise, he said that online module for Enlistment of Contractors for Class-I, Class-II, Class-III and Class-IV is also in pipeline.
