New Delhi [India], April 9 (ANI): The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) on Wednesday approved the Construction of a six-lane Zirakpur Bypass starting from the Junction with NH-7 (Zirakpur-Patiala) and ending at the Junction with NH-5 (Zirakpur-Parwanoo), with a total length of 19.2 km, in the State of Punjab and Haryana under NH(O) on Hybrid Annuity Mode.

According to the CCEA, the total capital cost of the project is Rs 1878.31 crore.

The Zirakpur Bypass starts from the junction with NH-7 (Chandigarh-Bathinda) in Zirakpur and follows the Punjab Government Master Plan. It terminates at the junction with NH-5 (Zirakpur-Parwanoo) in Panchkula, Haryana, thus avoiding the highly urbanized and congested stretch of Zirakpur in Punjab and Panchkula in Haryana.

The primary purpose of the project is to ease congestion in Zirakpur, Panchkula, and surrounding areas by diverting traffic from Patiala, Delhi, and Mohali Aerocity and providing direct connectivity to Himachal Pradesh. The current proposal aims to reduce travel time and ensure hassle-free traffic movement in the congested urban sections of NH-7, NH-5, and NH-152.

The government has taken up the decongestion of Chandigarh, Panchkula and Mohali urban agglomeration with the development of a road network, which would take the shape of a ring road as indicated in the map. The Zirakpur bypass is an important component of this plan.

On Friday, the Union Cabinet approved the Vibrant Villages Programme -II, furthering its commitment to the vision of safe, secure, and vibrant land borders.

The programme would help in the comprehensive development of the villages located in the blocks abutting international land borders (ILBs), other than the northern border already covered under VVP-I.

With a total outlay of Rs 6,839 crore, the programme will be implemented in select strategic villages in the States/UTs of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Gujarat, J&K (UT), Ladakh (UT), Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Punjab, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Tripura, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal till the 2028-29.

The objective of the programme is to create better living conditions and adequate livelihood opportunities to ensure prosperous and safe borders, control trans-border crime and assimilate the border population with the nation and inculcate them 'as eyes and ears of the border guarding forces', crucial for internal security. (ANI)