Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh on Thursday thanked Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari for accepting the State Government’s proposal to approve substitution of 72 km stretch of Beas-Mehta-Batala-Dera Baba Nanak under ‘Bharatmala Pariyojana’ Phase-I as a part of year-long commemoration of 400th birth anniversary of Sikhs’ ninth master, Guru Tegh Bahadur.
The Chief Minister also expressed gratitude to the Nation Highways Authority of India (NHAI) chairman Sukhbir Singh Sandhu for clearing this prestigious road project, linking Beas with the historic town of Dera Baba Nanak, connected with the life and times of founder of Sikhism Guru Nanak Dev.
“The upgradation of this road project as four-lane would go a long way to give further impetus to region’s overall development besides harnessing its religious tourism potential and giving infrastructural boost to the industrial town of Batala,” he said.
Amarinder said with the approval of this project, the long-pending demand of the residents of the border area, and especially the Sikh Sangat, has been fulfilled, which will enable them to pay obeisance at Gurdwara Sri Kartarpur Sahib in a hassle-free manner.
Punjab Government had earlier proposed to the Centre that the project be sanctioned as a part of 550th prakash purb of Guru Nanak Dev and 400th prakash purb of Guru Tegh Bahadur, to provide easy access to the pilgrims visiting Sri Kartarpur Sahib, where the first Sikh Guru almost spent the last 18 years of his life, and Baba Bakala, the sacred place associated with Guru Tegh Bahadur.
