Phagwara, Jul 8 (PTI) Union Minister Som Parkash on Saturday inaugurated and laid foundation stones for development projects worth Rs 39 crore related to the railway station here.

Addressing a function, the Minister of State for Commerce and Industry said a total of Rs 85.8 crore will be spent on Phagwara railway station projects. This will include Rs 46.90 crore for Khera road overbridge, he said.

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He inaugurated a first class AC waiting room and a foot overbridge and laid foundation stones for Mauli and Industrial area underpasses besides the railway station under the Amrit Bharat scheme.

The minister said a total of 29 railway stations of Punjab were selected under the scheme and Phagwara was one of them.

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"The world class facilities will benefit passengers from not only Phagwara but also those belonging to the surrounding areas as Phagwara was industrial hub of Punjab's Doaba region," he said.

Speaking on the occasion, Firozpur Divisional Railway Manager (DRM) Seema Sharma said the Phagwara railway station occupies a very significant place among total 252 railway stations that come under the Firozpur Division.

She said Phagwara was one of the 'A' route mainline stations in the division where 68 mail/express and 10 passenger trains had stoppage, over 4,000 passengers use it daily while 45,000 tonnes of food grains was ferried every month to different parts of country.

Out of total 24 railway stations selected under the Amrit Bharat Scheme in the Division, as many as 18 belonged to Punjab, 4 to Jammu and Kashmir and the remaining to Himachal Pradesh, she said.

The Phagwara station will showcase new features, including WiFi facility, second entry point, good toilets and other facilities, she said.

Later, the DRM told reporters that no unmanned railway crossing is now left in the Firozpur division.

Either these were manned or closed, she claimed.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)