Gadkari Approves Rs 25,000 Crore Greenfield Delhi-Amritsar-Katra Expressway Under Bharatmala Pariyojana

In a massive infrastructure push, Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari yesterday approved the building of an all new greenfield expressway connecting Delhi to Katra in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) via a direct link to Amritsar in Punjab, reports The Economic Times.

The complete Delhi-Amritsar-Katra expressway project will be implemented under the union government's flagship highways development programme Bharatmala Pariyojana.

It should be noted that initially the proposal was to have a 75-kilometre-long link road to connect Amritsar to the expressway which would directly link Delhi and Katra. However, the proposal has now been amended as Gadkari gave his nod to the change in alignment of the project as a result of which the expressway will itself be passing through Amritsar.

The push for the new alignment was championed by both, Union Minister for Food Processing Industries Harsimrat Kaur Badal and Union Minister for Civil Aviation Hardeep Singh Puri. Punjab Chief Minister (CM) Captain Amarinder SIngh had also pushed for the same.

The new greenfield connectivity to Amritsar city will traverse from Nakodar via Sultanpur Lodhi, Goindwal Sahib, Khadoor Sahib as part of Delhi-Amritsar-Katra expressway. Also, the expressway is expected to shorten the travel time between Delhi and Amritsar by half to just four hours. The entire project will be implemented at a cost of around Rs 25,000 crore.