Badal for development of Holy city

Amritsar, Jun 13 (UNI) Reiterating his firm resole to develop the holy city as a world class tourist destination, Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today announced a grant of Rs 65 crore, in addition to Rs 100 crore already given by the state government for the integrated development of the historic city.

The Chief Minister was addressing a gathering here today after a presentation made by the technical experts of the US based Tetra Tech India Limited on the Rs 100 crore development project of the city.

Mr Badal said that out of Rs 65 crore, a sum of Rs 20 crore each would be spent on the development of outer wards, solid waste management, lying of sewer lines and Rs five crore for the plantation of neem trees in the city as part of the beautification and clean environment project.

The project is likely to be executed by reputed firms for which the global tenders have already been floated.

The Chief Minister also announced that the Union Government had already cleared the state's proposal to set up a world class Central University over 700 acres of land here which was being identified by the district administration for this purpose.

He also mentioned that recently he called on the Union Sports and Youth Affairs Minister Manohar Singh Gill at New Delhi, who agreed to sanction Rs three crore for replacing the astroturf at the Guru Nanak Dev University hockey stadium.

He claimed his government had embarked upon an ambitious plan to modernise the Government Guru Nanak Hospital and Medical College at a cost of Rs 130 crore.

The Chief Minister also highlighted the significance of overall development and growth of the city in the context of the improved Indo-Pak relations which would further give a fillip to the bilateral trade between the two countries in general and Punjab in particular.

The Chief Minister said that the government had initiated concerted efforts towards an integrated development of the cities of Amritsar, Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Patiala, Mohali and Bathinda for which the services of renowned planners and architects were being taken to prepare the master plans of these cities.

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