Congress MP Manish Tewari called upon Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari and reiterated the demand for the completion of the Banga-Anandpur Sahib Road in Punjab as a National Highways project.
Tewari is the MP from Sri Anandpur Sahib constituency in Punjab.
Tewari reminded Gadkari that he had accorded in-principle approval to upgrade the Banga-Sri Anandpur Sahib Road to a National Highway. The Congress leader handed over a letter to Gadkari regarding the matter.
"In February 2019, you laid the foundation stone of this project which was supposed to cost Rs 581 crores. Unfortunately, since 2019, the project has been hanging fire and there has been absolutely no progress in bringing it to any fruition," Tewari said.
The Congress MP said the Banga-Sri Anandpur Sahib road connects two of the holiest places in the Sikh Religion-- Sri Harminder Sahib and Sri Anandpur Sahib.
There are many foreign tourists and even domestic tourists who regularly visit both these shrines and then go on to visit the Naina Devi, which is situated in Himachal Pradesh.
"I would be grateful if this road is adopted as a National Highway under the Bharat Mala Tour Scheme or under any other relevant scheme of the Central Government and this project is taken up on an urgent basis and brought to fruition," Tewari said.
"It would not be remiss to point out that this particular road has a very special place in the entire historiography and culture of Punjab. Therefore, it is imperative that this road must be taken up as a national highway and completed at the earliest," he added.
( With inputs from ANI )
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