Navjot Sidhu’s exit leaves ₹200-crore projects in Amritsar in limbo

Navjot Singh Sidhu’s resignation from Punjab cabinet has cast a doubt on majority of the projects announced for Amritsar during his term.

Chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh accepted Sidhu’s resignation on Saturday, more than a month after he had refused to join the power ministry allocated to him following a state cabinet reshuffle on June 6 that stripped him of the local bodies ministry.

The projects amounting to over ₹200 crore were announced during Sidhu’s term as local bodies and tourism and cultural affairs minister to give a fillip to the tourism sector and infrastructure in Amritsar. But they are yet to see the light of the day.

Harike lake beautification project, Durgiana Temple Heritage Street project, construction of five bridges in city, Leisure Valley along the UBDC canal, Master Tara Singh memorial are among many projects that are hanging fire.

Amid much fanfare in October 2018, Sidhu had laid the foundation stones for five projects worth ₹127.86 crore in Amritsar. The tenders of railway overbridges at Vallah phatak, extension of Bhandari bridge and 22 number phatak have been floated while the execution of railway underbridge at Jaura Phatak and flyover at Sant Singh Sukha Singh (SSSS) Chowk have not started yet.

Meanwhile, ₹30 crore earmarked for the widening and beautification of the chowk and road at Gurdwara Baba Deep Singh have not materialised yet and the road remains congested ad jam packed with traffic.

Besides this in June 2018, Sidhu had announced a world-class eco-friendly project worth ₹50 crore for Harike wetland and wildlife sanctuary. He had announced to introduce motorboats, rafting, parasailing, shikaras and many more adventurous sports there, however, nothing much have moved on this front either.

It has been over a year since Sidhu announced that a replica of the Heritage Street will be built outside the Durgiana Temple and ₹5 crore were also sanctioned, but the tenders for the same have not been floated yet by the Amritsar municipal corporation (MC).

In June 2017, Sidhu had also announced that a memorial dedicated to Master Tara Singh, an iconic figure of the Akali movement, will come up in Amritsar besides naming a chowk near the Amritsar railway station after the name of the leader.

“Sidhu promised to install CCTV cameras at all important spots in the city. He also promised to launch tourism police and set up solid waste management plant but nothing happened in reality,” said Indu Arora, another social worker.

Chairman of Amritsar Improvement Trust (AIT) Dinesh Bassi said, “All projects announced by Sidhu will be completed. We will review all the projects and work on them will begin soon.”

Earlier, the BJP-SAD led state government and officials of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) had signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) in 2013 for setting up of super-specialty SAARC hospital with an investment of ₹1,800 crore in Amritsar but there has been no progress at the grassroots for its construction.

“Sidhu used to blame the previous chief minister Prakash Singh Badal for not clearing the files regarding the MoU signed with SAARC for hospital but during his two years as cabinet minister, he never mentioned the project. Also in 2013, he planned to construct a Leisure Valley along the UBDC canal. Even its budget and layout was planned to convert a portion of canal into a lake, but nothing happened here too,” said social worker Kulwant Ankhi, adding that with Sidhu’s resignation, the projects have also ended.