Special Report
Editorial
Op-Ed
Opinion
Columns

Politics
Literature
Music
Art & Culture
Sikh Religion
Rights
1984
Books
Education
Business

Entertainment
Lifestyle
Travel
Health
Heritage
Sports
Kids Corner

Panjab
India
Pakistan
South Asia
US of A
Canada
Asia-Pacific
UK
Europe
Middle East
Africa
World
 

Archives
Newsletter
Advertise

Obituaries

Feedback
Contact Us
About Us
Site Map

Wait another year for elevated road to Harmandar Sahib
WSN Network

Amritsar: Visitors to the Sri Harimandir Sahib will have to wait another year for the elevated approach road as the Amritsar Municipal Corporation has already taken nearly two years to shift sewerage, water, electricity and telephone lines to facilitate construction of base pillars.

By all accounts, it would take nearly one month to start work on the 0.9-km stretch, a link to the holy shrine and the Jallianwala memorial from the main 3.25-km segment, where work is already in progress.

The authorities also admitted that work on the main stretch had been delayed by at least five months and was expected to be completed by Mayend. Work on the Rs 173-crore project, including a 3.25-km stretch from Maqboolpura Chowk to Bhandari Bridge and a 0.9-km stretch from the bus stand to Harmandar Sahib, has been allotted to Gammon India.

An inordinate delay in completing the project has hit commuters hard, with a main chunk of the road occupied for construction work and only narrow service lanes available for plying vehicles.

“Half the day is wasted in traffic jams on this stretch as I have to commute twice a day from my house on the Batala road to my office near the Maqboolpura Chowk,” says Sulakhan Singh, a transporter.

“We are fed up with the construction work on the elevated road, which has brought our business on the verge of closure,” says Madan Gopal, who runs a grocery store.

The project was started with much fanfare in July 2006, but ran into rough weather a couple of months later. Launched by the then CM Capt Amarinder Singh, the project was belatedly brought under the Nehru Urban Renewal Mission (NURM) with the intervention of Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh and the Centre was to bear Rs 150 crore of the total cost.

8 April 2009
 

Bookmark with

Reddit    Yahoo     Furl    Delicious