Parkash Singh Badal seeks intervention of Arun Jaitley, Uma Bharti for project clearance

CHANDIGARH: Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today sought intervention of Union Ministers Arun Jaitley and Uma Bharti for "prompt clearance" of the project to restart work on the 'Sakki/Kiran Nallah' (drain) in Amritsar and Gurdaspur Districts.

In separate letters to both the Union Ministers, Badal apprised them of this project, which would play a pivotal role in saving the border districts of state from the scourge of floods, an official release said.

The project was approved by the Union Government in June 2006, but the work had to be stopped following objections raised by the Army regarding design of bridges in border area.

The Chief Minister said the project cost, which was estimated to be around Rs 111.39 crore then, has now escalated to Rs 400.26 crore.

He said now the project has been split into two parts based on Flood Management requirement of Punjab (FMP) and requirement of Army authorities.

He said that the first phase of project under FMP worth Rs 208.98 crore was to be shared by the Union and State government in the ratio of 75:25.

He said that a sum of Rs 191.29 crore would be borne by the Ministry of Defence for the completion of the second phase as per the requirement of Army.

Urging both the ministers to get this project cleared at the earliest for the restarting of work, Badal said that this project would prove to be a boon for the border areas of the state.