PATIALA: Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh, on Sunday, laid the foundation stone of the state’s first dedicated sports university and a bus stand, along with other development projects in Patiala district on the occasion of Dussehra.
The projects, launched at two separate events, include surface water based water supply for Patiala city (Rs 503 crore), development of a Heritage Street near Quila Mubarak (Rs 43 crore), new bus stand at Rajpura Road (Rs 65 crore), and widening of the same road (Rs 6.74 crore).
The CM also handed over keys of the EWS housing scheme constructed by PDA at Haji Majra, next to the Cantonment to selected beneficiaries. Of the 174 flats constructed, 124 were allotted on Sunday. Captain Amarinder Singh urged the PDA and local government to ensure that people of economically weaker sections in Punjab are provided with affordable housing. He said he would personally monitor the progress of all ongoing and new projects.
Maharaja Bhupinder Singh Sports University will be developed at a total cost of Rs 500 crore, of which Rs 60 crore will be invested in the initial phase for the development of academic and administrative blocks, boys and girls hostels and boundary wall as well as internal roads on the campus. The chief minister recalled the contribution of his grandfather Maharaja Bhupinder Singh, in whose memory the university is being established and whose 129th birth anniversary fell on Sunday, on the occasion of Dussehra.
The university will help in scientific development of sportspersons, Amarinder said, adding that he wanted to see Punjab develop as a sports hub. He thanked the Panchayat and people of Sidhuwal, who had contributed land free of cost for the sports university. They had earlier donated land for the Law University and have now offered another 100 acres for another project, said the CM, announcing a Rs 50 lakh grant for Sidhuwal, which has developed as a model village.
Expressing pleasure at the presence of students who had already secured admission to the Sports University, CM expressed the hope that staff and students would be able to move into the campus by 2022.