JASWANT SINGH GANDAM / RAMAN NEHRA
India Post News Service
PHAGWARA: Maintaining that he was giving top priority to rail connectivity in his constituency, Lok Sabha member from Hoshiarpur and Central minister Som Parkash has said that Mukerian-Talwara will be provided with a rail link at a cost of over Rs 400 crore.
Addressing an impressive function held at the local railway station to welcome two trains during their maiden stoppages here September 2, Parkash said that he had taken up the matter with Union Railway Minister Piyush Goyal and tenders about the rail link will be floated very soon.
“This Kandi area link will be further extended to Daulatpur and Unna in Himachal Pradesh for linking Mukerian to HP and make it inter-state connectivity”, he said.
He disclosed that he had written to Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh August 26 for initiating steps for acquiring land falling in-state area so that the link could be extended.
However, he regretted that the state government was working slowly.
“But I will pursue the matter personally,” he said.
He further said that the Phagwara railway station would be upgraded, beautified and modernized at cost of Rs 5 crore.
“Facilities like a VIP waiting room, platform shelters, modern bathrooms, a well-equipped waiting room for passengers etc will be ensured at Phagwara station”, he said.
He informed that three under-bridges will also be built here.
“The long-pending demands of residents, including migrants, was fulfilled by providing stoppage to two trains – 12241/12242 Amritsar-Chandigarh Intercity Superfast(daily) and 12203/12204 Saharsa-Amritsar Garib Rath (tri-weeky),” he said.
Calling it a first of its kind in the history of Phagwara, Som Parkash claimed that a sort of record was made by having a halt of two trains in a single day here.
Minister Parkash, along with his wife Aneeta Som Parkash, GRM Firozpur Railway Division Rajesh Aggarwal, Mayor Arun Khosla, Deputy Mayors Surinder Singh Walia and Ranjit Singh Khurana, SAD stalwart Jarnail Singh Wahid, and SGPC member Sarwan Singh Kular flagged off the Intercity Superfast here on its way to Amritsar from Chandigarh.
It may be mentioned here that both Mukerian and Phagwara assembly segments fall in Hoshiarpur Lok Sabha constituency that Parkash now represents.
