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Punjab CM announces ₹57cr for road overhaul in Attari
The Punjab chief minister said areas long neglected despite their strategic location along the Pakistan border will now see focused investment, improved connectivity and renewed economic activity
Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann on Friday announced a budget of ₹57.80 crore for the overhaul of 121 roads spanning 137 km in Amritsar’s Attari.
Addressing a gathering in the border assembly constituency, the chief minister said areas long neglected despite their strategic location along the Pakistan border will now see focused investment, improved connectivity and renewed economic activity.
Highlighting relief for border farmers, he said, “Due to the concerted efforts of the AAP government, the Government of India has ordered the shifting of fencing to within 300 metres of the international border with Pakistan, giving major relief to farmers. This will allow cultivation on lakhs of acres of land without restrictions.”
Mann added, “Farmers in Pathankot, Gurdaspur, Amritsar, Tarn Taran, Fazilka and Ferozepur will benefit immensely. SDMs have been directed to conduct surveys so that the 300-metre area can be properly demarcated for timely implementation of this decision.”
Positioning the initiative alongside broader governance and border reforms, the CM said the Punjab government was simultaneously working to eliminate the drug menace from its roots and steer Punjab toward a decisive development mandate in 2027.
He alleged that Punjab witnessed a black era before the AAP government came to power as the drug trade ruled the roost in Punjab. “Those who were in power misused their authority to bloom the drug trade in the state by patronising this menace. The vehicles of the state government were used to supply drugs from one part of the state to another during those black days,” he alleged.
Taking a jibe at the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), Mann alleged that people elected the Akalis for 15 years, but they proved to be “traitors” and “always back-stabbed” the state and its people. “When the entire farming community was fighting for their rights, the Akalis supported the Modi government on farm laws just for saving their berth in the Union ministry,” he alleged.
The AAP government, on the other hand, had taken several pro-people initiatives in every sector due to which complete transformation had been witnessed, he said.
“The tax money of people belongs to the state and it is being judiciously spent on the welfare of the people. People’s money is coming back to people through development, schools, hospitals and roads,” the chief minister added.
Meanwhile, a group of farmers clashed briefly with police after being stopped from approaching the venue to meet the chief minister.
The protesters, mobilised by the Kisan Mazdoor Morcha, were seeking to raise concerns over wheat procurement delays. Farmer leaders alleged pushing and jostling by police during the scuffle, in which leader Sarwan Singh Pandher was reportedly roughed up.
