Chandigarh, Apr 29 (IANS): Union Food Processing Industries Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal on Wednesday said one section of the 658-km Delhi-Katra expressway would pass through Amritsar after being split into two at Kartarpur even as the other section would go through Gurdaspur to Katra.

She said she has been informed by the Amritsar Vikas Manch and other social organisations that the expressway was not going to pass through Amritsar and had herself got alarmed.

"I took up the matter with Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari and he informed me that there was no cause of worry for people of Amritsar and that the expressway would not only pass through the holy city but also the Raja Sansi International Airport," she said in a statement here.

She said the expressway would split into two from Kartarpur.

One section going to Amritsar would use the existing highway for 50 km which would be developed as an access controlled expressway with service roads on both sides even as a new 30 km stretch would be constructed to take the expressway to the Raja Sansi airport.

She said the second section would be a new 65-km stretch which would take the expressway from Kartarpur to Gurdaspur and from there it would join National Highway 44 for the next 180 km stretch to Katra.

Harsimrat said as per the information sent to her, the expressway took off from Jassur Kheri in Haryana and passed through Ghana-Kalayat in Haryana to enter Punjab near Patran.

She said from there the expressway would pass through Bhawanigarh and Nakodar to Kartarpur and then be bifurcated in two -- with one section passing through Amritsar and the other through Gurdaspur.

The Union minister said the total length of the expressway would be 658 km and it would be constructed at a cost of Rs 30,000 crore.

She said the first phase of the project was proposed to be awarded in this fiscal.