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Amritsar getting facelift ahead of G-20 Summit
With less than a month left for the meetings being hosted by Amritsar under G-20 Summit, work has started to make the holy city, which is in a state of neglect for a long time, look better.
With less than a month left for the meetings being hosted by Amritsar under G-20 Summit, work has started to make the holy city, which is in a state of neglect for a long time, look better.
A ray of hope had glimmered for upkeep of the holy city, which is home of world famous sites including central Sikh shrine Harmandar Sahib (Golden Temple) and not up to the mark in all the aspects including civic amenities, after the international meetings were scheduled here.
The work includes road repairs, laying new layers of the material on the existing roads, beautifying footpaths, decorating road sides and improving look of the public places overnight. The street lights are being repaired. Poles of the street and traffic lights are being painted. Flowers are being planted along the road. Road sides are being cleaned.
Social activists in the city are not entirely satisfied with the facelift.
“Government is spending crores of rupees to give a new look to road etc in view of the arrival of delegates of G20 countries next month in the holy city. But why good roads for guests only? Why not for tax-payers? Since the introduction of GST regime, even poorest of the poor class is paying tax, hence entire for basic infrastructure like roads, street lights etc”, said Naresh Johar, a social activist.
A philanthropist and a retired principal Kulwant Singh Ankhi said, “The whole city is not in the priority list of the authorities for carrying out the developmental formalities, only selective routes and areas have attracted their attention for the “lipa pochi” (outer decoration) of the areas from where the international leadership is supposed to pass or visit”.
As per local bodies minister Dr Inderbir Singh Nijjar, around ₹100 crore will be spent on development works for the beautification of the city. The summit’s sessions are going to be held here in March, possibly between March 15 to 17.
The district administration has decided to hold a wall painting competition keeping in mind the upcoming G-20 summit. The walls will be decorated with so many artworks, said deputy commissioner Harpreet Singh Sudan.
