Will discuss Mohali-Rajpura link with railway minister, says Bittu

Union minister of state for railways and food processing Ravneet Singh Bittu on Sunday said he would discuss the Mohali-Rajpura broad-gauge rail link with railway minister Ashwani Vaishnav. A detailed project report (DPR) would be prepared at the earliest, he said.

Addressing his first press conference after becoming minister in the Circuit House here, he said the project would join Chandigarh with the state on the shortest link on the New Delhi-Amritsar main line at Sarai Banjara.

Terming it a long pending demand of Punjabis, he said the project would make the trip shorter by 55 km from the present route of Rajpura-Ambala and even make short the Mohali-Morinda link.

A DPR for this link was earlier prepared in 2016-17 and the cost was estimated at ₹312.53 crore. Punjab government’s consent was sought for sharing of cost and providing land for free but there has been no response from the state even after eight years. Bittu said a revised DPR would be shared with the Punjab government. “The length of this section will be 38.880 km and cover 43.192 hectares in SAS Nagar, Fatehgarh Sahib and Patiala,” he said.

According to Bittu, 55 km of new line is targeted in the current financial year to double the Ludhiana-Mullanpur (Baddowal-Ludhiana section) and Ludhiana-Kila Raipur tracks besides Nangal Dam-Talwara Mukerian new line at the cost of ₹2,400 crore.

Besides, 30 stations in Punjab are being redeveloped under Amrit Bharat Station Scheme with a total cost of 1,103.27 crore. These stations are Amritsar, Anandpur Sahib, Nangal Dam, Rupnagar, SAS Nagar, Bathinda, Mansa, Kotkapura, Moga, Sirhind, Abohar, Fazilka, Firozpur Cantt, Muktsar, Gurdaspur, Pathankot Cantt, Pathankot city, Hoshiarpur, Phagwara, Jalandhar Cantt, Jalandhar city, Phillaur, Beas, Kapurthala, Dhandari Kalan, Ludhiana, Patiala, Dhuri, Malerkotla and Sangrur.

‘Won’t hesitate to meet Amritpal’s parents’

At the same time, Bittu, who is very vocal against hardliners, said he would not hesitate to meet the parents of separatist leader Amritpal Singh as he came to know that “they wanted to convey something” to him. Amritpal won the Khadoor Sahib Lok Sabha seat as an independent candidate.

“People have given a mandate in favour of Amritpal, who is lodged in Dibrugarh jail under the National Security Act (NSA). It is possible that he might have changed his mind. His parents might have brought his message,” said Bittu.

“I will convey their message to the Centre if it is in favour of India and under the ambit of law. Sending Amritpal to jail and then extending his custody was the decision of the state government,” mentioned Bittu, who was giving a grand welcome by BJP members.