AMRITSAR, July 13, 2013: The Holy city of Amritsar is all set for total face lift as Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal approving a plan to change the facade of corridor to Golden Temple right from Hall Gate and give a feeling of heritage walk to all pilgrims coming to pay homage at Sri Harmandir Sahib.

Accompanied by Member Parliament Harsimrat Kaur Badal and Revenue Minister, Bikram Singh Majithia, Animal Husbandry Minister Gulzar Singh Ranike and Chief Parliamentary Secretaries Navjot Kaur Sidhu, Inderbir Singh Bolaria, the Deputy Chief Minister, who was here to review the development projects of Amritsar and adjoining areas made a unscheduled program to walk through the lanes leading to Golden Temple and approved the total façade uplift to make it No. 1 tourist destination of the world.

 While reviewing the progress of Golden Plaza and other ongoing development projects here after paying obeisance at Golden Temple, Badal said that nearly 1 lakh devotees visit Golden Temple daily and  the city has a large potential to emerge as a best tourist destination of the world. He   ordered the officials to ensure that the whole road from Hall Gate to Golden Temple should be given the heritage look according to the rich Sikh traditional values, which would send a strong message of humanity, brotherhood to the pilgrims. He said that all shops, houses should be colored with same colour, besides installing sign boards with same colour and size. Badal has also asked the officials to complete the work of Golden Plaza in next three months as he wanted it to dedicate the pilgrims till Diwali this year. 

Keeping in mind the need of tourists in the city, Deputy Chief Minister has ordered to engage the tourist guides with multilingual specialty, which would give a big push to tourism and employment. In another decision to boost tourism, Badal has asked to use Nanakshahi bricks instead of concrete to construct the city bus shelters across the city.

Badal has also asked the PWD and Cultural Affairs department to make a joint committee to review the preservation of 140 old buildings identified by Municipal Corporation. He said that this committee would check out to preserve the building having rare architect, art and demolished not having an archival value. To pay the tribute to all martyrs of Majha region, Deputy Chief Minister has also asked to install their statues in the entire city.  

While examining the progress of POD System from Railway station to Golden Temple, Mr Badal asked the PWD officials to prepare a plan for widening the Bhandari bridge as it connects the both sides of the city.

Stating the road connectivity as a base for development, Mr Badal has approved the 8 laning of Bhandari Bridge to Guru Nanak Dev University, 6 laning of Airport road, 4 laning of circular road. Besides those service lanes along with Amritsar-Ajnala road, Fatehgarh Churrian road, Amritsar-Batala road has also been sanctioned by the Deputy Chief Minister.  To ease out the traffic chaos   on Amritsar-Taran Taran road, Badal has asked to construct a ROB at railway crossing.

Taking a serious note of problems occurred by the ongoing sewerage  projects, Badal has strictly instructed the Municipal Corporation Officials to make sure that only the roads to be dug out, which could be build in 10-15 days.  At Ranjit Avenue, deputy Chief Minister has examined the construction of open air theater, Food court, Football and kabbadi stadium and asked to completed these projects in the given time frame.

Source: Punjab Newsline, DT. July 13, 2013.