Panchkula gets metropolitan development authority

The authority while working in coordination with other departments like Haryana Shehri Vikas Pradhikaran, HSIIDC, and Municipal Corporation would ensure the availability of infrastructure and other key facilities to the people, he said.

An awareness campaign on Panchkula’s integrated development plan would be launched, Khattar said, adding that hoardings displaying the information about completed projects and the major developmental works in progress will be installed across the city.

“After Panchkula, a similar integrated development plan would be chalked out for Karnal, Hisar, Rohtak and other districts,” the CM said, adding that the swift execution of the integrated development plan and setting up of PMDA will ensure the development of Panchkula as Centre of Excellence and help Haryana improve its ranking in the Ease of Living and Business Index.

Panchkula as ‘Economic Capital’

Khattar announced that his government intends to make Panchkula a major hub for industrial investment, medical infra, tourism and paragliding while ensuring holistic development which will be ecological and eco-friendly. “Panchkula is the first planned city of Haryana and since 1972, when the city’s first action plan for its urbanization was prepared, it has gradually witnessed major transformation varying from developing modern amenities of life, besides infrastructure development.”

He said a decision has been taken to bring down External Development Charges (EDC) and Infrastructure Development Charges (IDC) at par with Mohali and Zirakpur. Taking the city’s development plan a step further, various developmental charges and taxes have been slashed by almost one-third in Panchkula district, bringing them at par with Mohali and Zirakpur to woo investors and further to make potential investment in Panchkula district, he said.

In a bid to develop Panchkula as a medicity, two big hospitals with modern health infrastructure will be opened in Sector-32 and Sector-5C. The state’s first joint food and drug testing lab is being opened in Panchkula’s Sector-3 at a cost of Rs 22 crore. A wellness centre and a panchakarma centre are also being set up at Thapli. A nursing college too is being established, he added.

Khattar said dedicated efforts are being made to set up an education city in Panchkula and for this, a site has been identified in Chandimandir. “The National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT) is being established at Sector-23 and a new Sanskriti Model School was opened in Sector-26. A primary school has been constructed in Sector-31 at a cost of Rs 1.66 crore,” Khattar said.

Pharma hub in Panchkula and Barwala

Panchkula being the gateway to Himachal Pradesh and Delhi, the state government wants to develop it as an industrial and logistics hub, Khattar said, adding they are in regular touch with industrialists to attract investors from the pharmaceutical industry to Panchkula and Barwala.

Morni as adventure destination

Sharing plans to develop Morni hills in the district as a favourite tourist destination, he said, “We have developed paragliding facilities at Morni to develop Panchkula as a tourism hub. Paragliding will be started there on the occasion of International Yoga Day on June 21. As paragliding involves a lot of risk, therefore a provision of insurance has been made by the state government for those who wish to explore this adventurous sport,” Khattar said.

He said to promote mountaineering, trekking routes will be made in such a way that the youth can easily reach the destination by evening. “Besides this, Policy has been formulated for Home Stay or Farm Stay and will be implemented soon,” Khattar said.

Roads are being widened for ensuring smooth traffic to tourist places like Morni and Tikkartal. Besides this, roads connecting Panchkula-Mandhna- Morni-Tikkartal-Raipur Rani are also being widened for hassle-free movement of tourists, while, the construction of new road to connect Ramgarh to Himachal Pradesh will be started soon, he added.

He informed that work of road connecting Chandigarh international airport to Panchkula is in progress. For this, work regarding construction of a bridge at Ghaggar river is also going on.

“Similarly, the construction work of Pinjore airstrip is in progress. Soon after its completion, people will be able to take advantage of air taxi service, which will be started for tourist places like Shimla, Dharamshala, Kullu,” he said.

“A state-of-the-art archaeological museum is being established in Sector-5 of Panchkula to make the residents of the state aware of the glorious history of Haryana,” he said.

Khattar also said that the development of Pinjore is one of the key parts of the Panchkula’s integrated development plan and for this, a comprehensive plan for setting up a film city to be built there is being chalked out

Dumping ground

Khattar also announced that “apart from immediately banning the dumping of garbage in the dumping ground of Sector-23, the government has decided to completely shift it to Jhuriwala by December 31, 2021. The process of dumping the garbage on the said site has been started and solid waste management plant has also been installed there”.