Work for setting up the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology at Ropar would start soon, assured DC B Purushartha, while addressing a press conference on Friday. Denying that the proposed IIT is being shifted from Ropar,Purushartha said the site has been finalised by the Union Human Resource Development Ministry. He said Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh was to lay the foundation stone of the IIT sometime back but his visit was postponed following bomb blasts in Delhi and efforts are now on to arrange his visit for laying the foundation stone,” he added. The Khalsa Heritage Complex project at Anandpur Sahib would be completed by Baisakhi, he added. Purushartha said the state government had approved, in principle, the Ropar bypass project and the first phase of the project was likely to start this year.

A mini bypass to connect Ropar-Nawanshahr road to Ropar-Nangal road will also start soon, he said.