Dera Baba Nanak-Amritsar road connectivity yet to be improved

Charanjit Singh Teja

Amritsar, April 4

In 2019, while celebrating the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak and after the opening of Kartarpur corridor, the government made tall claims of improving road infrastructure to link Dera Baba Nanak with the holy city of Amritsar. But even after five years, all roads leading to Kartarpur corridor are in a pathetic condition. More than 500 devotees from all over world daily visit Kartarpur Sahib but most of them prefer to stay at Amritsar and travel through bumpy roads via Ajnala, Fatehgarh Churian and Majitha.

All these three roads have now been dug up for widening or recarpeting. At several stretches on these roads, the government laid stones but bitumen is yet to be laid. The bridges on water tributaries and drains are either being constructed or lying incomplete for months.

The work on these roads is going on at a snail’s pace. The PWD had dug up trenches alongside the Fatehgarh Churian road in 2019 for widening but these trenches have not been filled up till date. A large number of accidents are reported on the road that leads to Fatehgarh Churian.

The residents of several villages led by Kisan Unions staged a massive protest with the demand to complete the road last year. Despite assurance, work on the road is still incomplete. Commuters, especially two-wheeler riders, are forced to drive on dusty roads and through mud during the rains.

The visitors for Kartarpur corridor often reach Dera Baba Nanak with significant delay due to poor road infrastructure.

“The roads in all the border villages are in poor condition but these main roads connecting major towns of the region with Amritsar city are badly damaged. Despite delay in completing the work in a time-bound manner, there is no check if the work is getting completed on time. It is now two years that AAP came to power but they have failed to complete the projects,” said Rajinder Singh, a resident of Majitha.