Dinanagar MLA Aruna Chaudhary on Tuesday sought an inquiry into the prolonged delay in the construction of two bridges over Ravi River at Makaura Pattan and the Upper Bari Doab Canal (UDBC) at Nanu Nangal villages in Gurdaspur despite the projects having been granted sanction by the central government.
The Congress MLA demanded the probe and fixing of responsibility of officials answerable for the delay during the question hour on Day 2 of the monsoon session of the Punjab Vidhan Sabha.
Replying to her question regarding the statement government’s plan to start work on these projects and the expected timeline for their completion, public works (B&R) minister Harbhajan Singh said that the previous Congress government approved these projects a few months before the 2022 assembly elections, but there was no land acquisition done or NOCs taken.
He said the construction of a high-level bridge at Makora Pattan was approved by the central government on August 18, 2021, and administrative approval was issued by the secretary, -public works department, government of Punjab, on April 5, 2022. “Subsequently, pre-construction activities such as land acquisition, obtaining forestry clearances, and utility shifting were initiated. Land acquisition was done and necessary clearances were taken from PSPCL, water resources department, forest department, and the army,” he added.
The minister said that as for the construction of a high-level bridge over the UBDC at Nano Nangal, the work was awarded to a contractor but it did not start because the land required for the construction had not been acquired and trees were standing in the path of the bridge’s approach roads. “Now, the land required for the bridge’s construction has been acquired by the department, and the trees have also been cut following the receipt of the necessary final NOC from the forest department,” he said. Chaudhary questioned the delay of five years and asked for fixing of responsibility.
{{/usCountry}}The minister said that as for the construction of a high-level bridge over the UBDC at Nano Nangal, the work was awarded to a contractor but it did not start because the land required for the construction had not been acquired and trees were standing in the path of the bridge’s approach roads. “Now, the land required for the bridge’s construction has been acquired by the department, and the trees have also been cut following the receipt of the necessary final NOC from the forest department,” he said. Chaudhary questioned the delay of five years and asked for fixing of responsibility.
{{/usCountry}}No move to reopen sewa kendras: Arora
Good governance and information technology minister Aman Arora said there was no proposal under consideration of the state government for reopening of the closed sewa kendras in the state.
Replying to Dasuya MLA Karambir Singh’s starred question regarding any proposal to restart sewa kendras lying closed in Amroh, Alampur and Beh Lakhan villages, he said that 2,147 such centres were opened by the then government in 2016, but the Congress government to shut down most of them during the rationalisation exercise in 2018.
“The sewa kendras located at Amroh, Alampur and Beh Lakhan villages in the Dasuya assembly constituency were also shut,” he said.