Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar announced the setting up of Panchkula Metropolitan Development Authority (PMDA), making it the third city after Gurugram and Faridabad to have such a body.
He also shared the state government’s plans for making Panchkula district adjoining Chandigarh a major hub for industrial investment, tourism and adventure sports activities.
“The PMDA would ensure sustained and balanced growth of Panchkula. The authority would work on the similar lines of Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA) and Faridabad Metropolitan Development Authority (FMDA),” Khattar said.
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.
To ensure that people of the state, along with Panchkula residents, are aware of the development which has been planned for the city, an extensive Information Education Communication (IEC) campaign of Panchkula’s integrated development plan would be done, he said, adding that hoardings displaying the information about completed projects and the major developmental works in progress will be installed across the city.
Khattar told reporters that after Panchkula, a similar integrated development plan would be chalked out for Karnal, Hisar, Rohtak and other districts of the state.
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.
Khattar said Panchkula is the first planned city of Haryana and since 1972, when the city’s first action plan for its urbanisation 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.
The chief minister informed that 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, 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 here.
With Panchkula acting as the gateway to Himachal Pradesh, the state government wants to develop it as an industrial and logistics hub, Khattar said.
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.”
He said to promote mountaineering, trekking routes will be made in such a way that the youth can easily reach the destination by evening.
“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.
