Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to lay the foundation stone of various development projects in the road connectivity and healthcare infrastructure sectors worth over Rs 42,750 crore in Punjab during his day-long visit to the State on Wednesday.

According to a PMO note here, the Prime Minister among other things will lay the foundation stone of Delhi-Amritsar-Katra Expressway which will halve the travel time for Delhi to Amritsar and Delhi to Katra.

Modi will lay the foundation stone of development projects in line with his “vision to enhance accessibility to major religious centres, key Sikh religious sites” and for improved connectivity. This will also make reaching Vaishno Devi easier. Four lane upgradation of Amritsar – Una section will also be done. He will also connect four major national highways.

Foundation stone of strategic Mukerian – Talwara new Broad Gauge rail line will be laid. This will provide all – weather connectivity in the area.

Besides, in a boost to health infrastructure and in accordance with the Prime Minister’s endeavour to provide world class medical facilities in all parts of the country foundation stone of PGI Satellite Centre at Ferozepur and two medical colleges at Kapurthala and Hoshiarpur will also to be laid by PM Modi.

Giving details of Modi’s itinerary, the PMO said the Prime Minister will visit Ferozepur, Punjab on 5 January and at around 1 pm he will lay the foundation stone of multiple development projects worth more than Rs 42,750 crore.

These projects include Delhi-Amritsar-Katra Expressway; four laning of Amritsar – Una section; Mukerian – Talwara New Broad Gauge railway line; PGI Satellite Centre at Ferozepur and two new medical colleges at Kapurthala and Hoshiarpur.

The endeavour of the Prime Minister to improve connectivity all across the country has led to multiple national highway development initiatives being taken up in the state of Punjab. It has resulted in more than doubling the total length of National highways in the state from about 1700 kilometre in 2014 to more than 4100 kilometres in 2021. In continuation of such efforts the foundation stone of two major road corridors will be laid in Punjab. This will also be a step towards fulfilling the Prime Minister’s vision to enhance accessibility to major religious centres, the PMO underlined.

The 669 kilometre long Delhi-Amritsar-Katra Expressway will be developed at a total cost of about Rs 39,500 crore. It will halve travel time from Delhi to Amritsar and Delhi to Katra. The Greenfield Expressway will connect key Sikh religious sites at Sultanpur Lodhi, Goindwal Sahib, Khadoor Sahib, Tarn Taran and the holy Hindu shrine of Vaishno Devi in Katra.

The expressway will also connect key economic centres like Ambala Chandigarh, Mohali,Sangrur, Patiala, Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Kapurthala, Kathua and Samba in the three states/UTs of Haryana, Chandigarh, Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir, according to the PMO.

The four-laning of Amritsar – Una section will be done at the cost of around 1700 crore. The 77 kilometre long section is part of the larger Amritsar to Bhota corridor spanning across Northern Punjab and Himachal Pradesh, connecting four major national highways, namely Amritsar-Bhatinda-Jamnagar Economic Corridor, Delhi–Amritsar–Katra Expressway, North-South Corridor and Kangra-Hamirpur-Bilaspur-Shimla Corridor. It will help in improving the connectivity of religious sites at Ghoman, Shri Hargobindpur and Pulpukta Town (home to the famous Gurudwara Pulpukta Sahib).

Prime Minister Narendra Modi also will lay the foundation stone of a new Broad Gauge railway line between Mukerian and Talwara of around 27 Km to be built at a cost of over Rs 410 crore. The railway line will be an extension of Nangal Dam-Daulatpur Chowk railway section. It will provide an all – weather means of transportation in the area. This project also holds strategic importance as it will serve as an alternative route to Jammu and Kashmir, joining the existing Jalandhar-Jammu Railway line at Mukerian. The project will prove especially beneficial for the people of Hoshiarpur in Punjab and Una in Himachal Pradesh. It will give a boost to tourism in the region, and provide ease of connectivity to hill stations as well as to places of religious importance.

In a bid to provide world class medical facilities in all parts of the country, the Prime Minister will lay the foundation stone of new medical infrastructure in three towns of Punjab. The 100 Bedded PGI Satellite Centre at Ferozepur, will be built at a cost of more than Rs 490 crore. It will provide services in 10 specialities including Internal Medicine, General Surgery, Orthopedics, Plastic Surgery, Neurosurgery, Obstetrics & Gynaecology, Paediatrics, Ophthalmology, ENT and Psychiatry-Drug De-addiction. The satellite centre will provide world class medical facilities at Ferozepur and the nearby areas.

Besidrs, two Medical colleges at Kapurthala and Hoshiarpur will also be developed at a cost of around Rs 325 crore each and with a capacity of about 100 seats. “These colleges have been approved in Phase-III of the Centrally Sponsored Scheme ‘Establishment of new medical colleges attached with district/ referral hospitals’. A total of three Medical Colleges have been approved for Punjab under this Scheme. The college approved at SAS Nagar in Phase-I is already functional,” the PMO further said.