Urban Haat to be re-inaugurated on August 15

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, June 9

A private firm, outsourced by the Amritsar Development Authority (ADA), has claimed to make the Urban Haat functional till August 15. But, development work is yet to begin there. The buildings of the Urban Haat are lying abandoned. Officials of the firm say they have prepared everything on paper and scheduled August 15 for reopening of the Urban Haat.

Constructed with an aim to boost the city’s tourism, the replica of the famous Lahore Food Street has been crying for attention of the Amritsar Development Authority for long as the project is non-functional even three years after its inauguration.

The Amritsar Development Authority (ADA) had sublet it to a Bathinda-based firm in November 2018. The company will pay Rs 81 lakh annually to the ADA and has rights to accommodate food brands. The ADA had given the company time to make arrangements and will start collecting rent from July 11.

Amarjit Singh, owner of the firm, said, “We are all set to make the Urban Haat functional. The first phase will be inaugurated on August 15. The company will start its marketing process soon. The repair and paint work on the building is going on. A large number of multinational brands will open their outlets.”

It is worth mentioning here that the then BJP-SAD government in the state had restored and revamped the abandoned 124-year-old colonial-era building of Victoria Jubilee Hospital in consultation with the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage to attract tourists to taste Amritsar’s cuisine in 2015.

The project was inaugurated by the then deputy chief minister, Sukhbir Singh Badal, in May 2016 amidst much fanfare by organising Amritsar Heritage Festival in which people from 20 different states had taken part.