Punjab CM for drawing up plan to bring all colonies within vicinity of Patiala under ambit of canal based water supply project

Chandigarh: In a bid to ensure holistic development of Patiala Heritage City, the Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Wednesday asked the Deputy Commissioner to speed up the ongoing canal based water supply project with an investment of Rs.468 crore for ensuring potable drinking water supply to the residents of city with a direction to formulate a plan to cover all colonies in and around the city under this scheme.

          He also directed all the line departments to work in tandem for speedy completion of these ongoing major projects including canal based water supply, new bus stand, Sports University, rejuvenation of choti and badi nadi besides sprucing up the heritage street.

          Reviewing the progress of ongoing development works in the Patiala city, the Chief Minister asked the Deputy Commissioner to personally monitor the progress of these projects and update him regularly to ensure its timely execution.

          Earlier making a detailed presentation on the development works, the Deputy Commissioner Patiala informed the Chief Minister that 60% of the work on canal based water supply project would be completed by the globally acclaimed L&T Infrastructure Company by March, 2022.

          Regarding the status new bus stand and workshop with an outlay of nearly Rs.60 crore, the Principal Secretary Public Works informed that the bus stand over an area of 6.31 acre would be completed by November 2021 while the workshop over 2.20 acre by March 2022. He also informed that for direct entry of buses into the new bus stand, PWD (B&R) has already got approval for construction of new flyover from Punjab Infrastructure Development Board (PIDB) under UEIP-Phase 2 at a cost of Rs.7.70 crore.

          Meanwhile, responding to the issue raised by Chairman PRTC for purchase of new buses, the Chief Minister asked the Principal Secretary Transport to immediately clear the pending proposal in this regard. Acting swiftly on the direction of the Chief Minister, Principal Secretary Transport conveyed concurrence to PRTC for purchase of 255 new buses in its fleet.

          The Chief Minister also directed the Finance Department to immediately release Rs.2.18 crore for Phase-1 of Dairy Shifting Project coming up at village Ablowal, which is already in the advanced stage of completion besides another Rs.10.37 crore for Phase-2 of this project.

          To further boost the construction of upcoming Maharaja Bhupinder Singh Punjab Sports University over an area of 100 acre in village Sidhuwal, the Chief Minister asked the Finance Department to immediately grant sanction for filling requisite post of teaching faculty so as to make the university fully functional besides giving approval for funds worth Rs.60 crore for the construction of university.

          It was also informed in the meeting that the Phase-1 of 2 km stretch of heritage street from Samania Gate to Qila Mubarak 'A tank' being developed within the walled city to showcase rich cultural legacy of Patiala city would be completed by June 30 and subsequently the remaining part shortly. Likewise, the redevelopment of Patiala's choti nadi and badi nadi has been taken up as a part of its conservation plan. Nearly 35% work on the choti nadi has 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, 2021 as its design and other requirements have been finalized and likely to be completed soon.

          Taking part in the deliberations, Local Government Minister Brahm Mohindra highly appreciated the visionary leadership of Captain Amarinder Singh for overall development of Patiala city as most of these projects which were blatantly ignored by the previous government are now being implemented in the right earnest to cherish the aspirations of the local residents.

          The Chief Minister also asked the Financial Commissioner Rural Development & Panchayats to soon tie up with the country's leading companies engaged in setting up of rendering plants for disposal of animal carcasses at village Badshahpur in Patiala district.

          The meeting was also informed that a bioremediation plant has been set up at dump site in Sanouri Adda to get rid of the 25 years old accumulated legacy waste to the tune of 1.75 MT. The work on project started on July 2020 is expected to clear the entire lot of waste by May 2022 though Municipal Corporation expects to finish it much earlier as 40% of work has already 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 Medal Gallery and Coins Museum, the Deputy Commissioner informed the Chief Minister that the entire project at a cost of Rs.9.35 crore was already near completion.

          The Chief Minister also directed PSPCL to immediately start the work for upgradation of all overhead electrical cables and transformers in the walled city of Patiala to ensure smooth vehicular traffic and safety of residents. He also asked the PWD (B&R) to immediately workout an action plan for renovation of existing residences, for senior and junior doctors of Government Medical College and Rajindra Hospital, which were already in dilapidated 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) informed that the upcoming nursing hostel, new dental block at Medical College and the construction of the boundary wall of sports university would be completed by July 2021.

          Captain Amarinder Singh also asked the Deputy Commissioner to work out modalities to find suitable land to be given to the remaining beneficiaries 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 Brahm Mohindra, Chairman PRTC K.K. Sharma, Mayor Patiala Municipal Corporation Sanjeev Sharma, Chief Secretary Vini Mahajan, ACS Tourism Sanjay Kumar, Financial Commissioner Rural Development & Panchayats Seema Jain, Principal Secretary Transport K Siva Prasad, Principal Secretary Finance KAP Sinha, Principal Secretary Housing & Urban Development Sarvjit Singh, Principal Secretary Medical Education & Research DK Tiwari, Principal Secretary Local Government Ajoy Kumar Sinha, Principal Secretary PWD (B&R) Vikas Pratap, CEO PMIDC Ajoy Sharma, Deputy Commissioner Patiala Kumar Amit and Commissioner Municipal Corporation Patiala Poonamdeep Kaur.