Attari (Amritsar), April 17
Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Friday launched a sweeping development push in Amritsar’s Attari constituency, announcing ₹57.80 crore for the overhaul of 121 roads spanning 137 km, while asserting that areas long neglected despite their strategic location along the Pakistan border will now see focused investment, improved connectivity, and renewed economic activity.
Positioning the initiative alongside broader governance and border reforms, Mann said the Punjab Government is simultaneously working to unlock lakhs of acres through border fencing realignment, eliminate the drug menace from its roots, and steer Punjab toward a decisive development mandate in 2027.
Addressing the gathering, Mann said, “Punjab witnessed a black era before our government came to power when the drug trade ruled the roost in Punjab. Those who were in power misused their authority to bloom the drug trade in the state by patronising this menace. The vehicles of the state government were used to supply drugs from one part of the state to another during those black days.”
The Chief Minister said, “These leaders have sown thorns before Punjab and its younger generations by derailing the progress and prosperity of the state. The hands of these leaders are drenched with this crime against the state and history will never forgive them for backstabbing Punjab. These parties destroyed generations of the state by infusing drugs in their veins for which they can never be forgiven. It is ironic that those who are responsible for destroying Punjab with drugs are now making hollow claims to befool the people.”
Mann added, “These governments never bothered about the state and people and had ruined the system due to which youth wanted to move abroad. The AAP Government made strenuous efforts to ensure that the menace of drugs was removed from the state. The scourge of drugs was a blot on the face of the state and it took more than two years for the AAP Government to chalk out a strategy for wiping out this curse.”
