Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Ferozepur in Punjab on January 5 where he will lay the foundation stone of multiple development projects.
The PM will also address a rally in what Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) claims will be the biggest ever public meeting in the poll-bound state with an expected crowd of three lakh people.
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This will be PM Modi's first visit to Punjab after scrapping of three farm laws. The rally comes at a time when Punjab government has imposed night curfew and shut schools amid surge in COVID-19 cases.
The prime minister will lay the foundation stone of multiple development projects worth more than Rs 42,750 crore during the event scheduled at 1 pm. The projects include the 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, according to a statement issued by the Prime Minister's Office (PMO).
“I look forward to being among my sisters and brothers of Punjab today. At a programme in Ferozepur, the foundation stone of development works worth Rs. 42,750 crore would be laid, which will improve the quality of life for the people,” PM Modi said in a tweet.
The Punjab unit of BJP has reportedly left no stone unturned to turn PM Modi’s visit into a show of party’s strength ahead of assembly polls. On January 3, the BJP claimed that PM will address a gathering of nearly 3 lakh people at the rally.
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The PM’s visit assumes significance since dates of polls in five states, including Punjab, are likely to be announced in the coming days. The BJP has joined hands with former chief minister Amarinder Singh’s Punjab Lok Congress and the veteran leader Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa’s SAD Sanyukt for the Punjab polls.
Modi had last visited Punjab in 2020, before the farm ordinances were tabled in the Union Cabinet on June 5. The ordinances were later replaced by the farm laws, which led to protest by farmers, mostly from Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, for over a year at Delhi borders. The farm laws were repealed in December last year during the Winter Session of Parliament in November-December, 2021.
“The consistent 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,” the statement said.
Among other projects, the PM will lay the foundation stone of the 669- kms-long Delhi-Amritsar-Katra Expressway to be developed at a total cost of about Rs 39,500 crore. The expressway will reduce the travel time from Delhi to Amritsar and Delhi to Katra by almost half.
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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.
“This will also be a step towards fulfilling the Prime Minister’s vision to enhance accessibility to major religious centres,” the statement said.
The PM will also lay the foundation stone of the 100-bed PGI satellite centre at Ferozepur, to be built at a cost of more than Rs 490 crore. The project was announced in 2013 by then PM Manmohan Singh.
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