In a bid to deal with the massive traffic congestion in the south city area, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has given in-principle approval to construct four bridges over the Sidhwan Canal at the Laddowal bypass.
The development assumes significance as the project was awaiting nod for the past some time and Rajya Sabha MP from Ludhiana Sanjeev Arora had recently impressed upon NHAI Chairman Santosh Kumar Yadav to accord green signal to the project.
Confirming the development, NHAI Project Director Krishan Sachdeva told on Saturday that the NHAI had given formal approval to build the bridges over the Sidhwan Canal and a communication to this effect was received from the authority’s headquarters here this evening.
He said following the NHAI nod, a feasibility and alignment survey would be conducted in coming days to prepare the detailed project report on the basis of which tenders would be floated to award the work.
“The bridges would help decongest the South City area which is dotted with heavy traffic flow,” the NHAI Project Director said, adding that the project would also help in improving road safety and convenience of commuters on national highways covered under the project.
Hailing the development, the Rajya Sabha MP said the NHAI Chairman had kept his words of giving approval to the construction of the four bridges over the Sidhwan Canal, which he had demanded during his recent meeting with him.
“I had apprised the NHAI Chairman that the construction of the four bridges across the canal towards south city in Ludhiana was yet to see the light of day for which an application was pending with the NHAI since long,” Arora said while thanking Yadav for approving the project.
Arora had informed the NHAI Chairman that Ludhiana being one of biggest industrial cities in the country with over 5 million population, the traffic situation was getting chaotic due to pending projects. He had requested him to direct the officials concerned to speed up the pending projects in and around Ludhiana.
While appreciating the work being done, he had drawn the NHAI Chairman’s attention towards the matters, which needed immediate intervention. He had told Yadav that the traffic situation in the Ludhiana MC limits was worrisome on account of ongoing NHAI projects passing through the city causing traffic snarls and it was causing a nightmare for the commuters.
“Frequent and long traffic jams are making the citizens lose their temper as it takes a long time to commute between their offices and residences,” the MP said while requesting the NHAI Chairman to take stock of the situation and take initiatives for speedy work at the earliest.
“All assurances of the NHAI Chairman have come true,” he said while recounting that the Sherpur Chowk railway overbridge (ROB) has already been opened for traffic this Tuesday after its construction was completed and the ongoing work on the elevated road project has been expedited to meet the completion target of June this year.
Arora said the NHAI Chairman had also assured him that the construction of the four bridges across the canal would be completed by the end of this year.
“Ludhiana citizens had been raising a strong demand for the construction of the four bridges over the period of time and had been meeting him with the demand, which has been finally met,” the MP added.
