At PM’s first Punjab rally post farm law repeal, a BJP show of strength

During his visit, Modi will lay the foundation stones of development projects worth over Rs 42,750 crore, including the Delhi-Amritsar-Katra expressway and a PGI satellite centre, in Ferozepur.

With dates of the Assembly polls likely to be announced anytime soon, the PM’s visit assumes significance. 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.

The BJP Monday claimed that PM will address a gathering of nearly 3 lakh people at the rally venue that will have a covered area of 20 acres.

Dhruv Wadhwa, co-convener, Punjab BJP, told the The Indian Express that people will be coming to attend the rally from across the state. “At least 3 lakh people will attend the rally. It will be the biggest ever rally in Punjab’s history.” said Wadhwa.

“From Ludhiana alone, 250 buses will be carrying BJP supporters and workers to the rally,” said Pushpender Singal, party’s district unit chief.

Multiple BJP leaders said that over 100 bus-loads of people are expected from each of the 23 districts.

The farmer unions earlier had announced that they will protest against Modi during his visit to Ferozepur, with BKU (Ugrahan), the largest farmer union of Punjab, declaring that they will burn effigies of PM at all district headquarters on January 5.

Wadhwa said the party is taking precaution to ensure that no such protest takes place at the rally venue.

“Security arrangements will be extremely tight. One extra layer of security each will be placed both inside and outside the venue,” said Wadhwa.

Party leaders have been camping in the district for more than a week holding ‘chai pe charcha’ at various places even as ‘Ferozepur Chalo’ march is being organised in various parts of Punjab. The slogan being given by BJP is ‘ Nawa Punjab Bhajpa de naal’

The state unit of BJP, meanwhile, denied the reports that people from Haryana and Sriganganagar district of Rajasthan would be attending the rally at Ferozepur, which is located just 40 km away from borders of the two states. The party said “only Punjab voters” will be part of the rally .

Wadhwa also ruled out any new leader being inducted into the BJP during PM’s function.

In a statement, the PMO said that “in line with the prime minister’s endeavour to provide world class medical facilities across the country, new medical infrastructure projects in three towns of Punjab will be laid”.

PM will be laying the foundation stone of the 100-bed PGI satellite centre at Ferozepur, to be built at a cost of more than Rs 490 crore. Incidentally, the project was announced by then PM Manmohan Singh in 2013.

The other projects for which foundation stone will be laid include four-laning of the Amritsar–Una section, Mukerian-Talwara broad gauge railway line and two new medical colleges at Kapurthala and Hoshiarpur. The medical colleges will 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”, the PMO said.

“PM’s consistent endeavour to improve connectivity across the country has led to multiple national highway development projects being taken up in Punjab,” the PMO said.

It has resulted in more than doubling the total length of national highways in the state from about 1,700 kilometre in 2014 to more than 4,100 kilometres in 2021. “In continuation of such efforts the foundation stone of two major road corridors in Punjab will also be a step towards fulfilling the PM’s vision” to enhance accessibility to major religious centres, the PMO said.

The Projects To Be Inaugurated

The 669-km-long Delhi-Amritsar-Katra expressway will be developed at a cost of about Rs 39,500 crore, and it will halve the 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 Haryana, Chandigarh, Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir.

The four-laning of Amritsar–Una section will be done at the cost of around Rs 1,700 crore. The 77-km-long section is part of the larger Amritsar to Bhota corridor spanning across the longitudinal expanse of 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), the PMO said.

PM will also lay the foundation stone of a new broad gauge railway line between Mukerian and Talwara of around 27 km in length, 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 and 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, the PMO said.