Minister Bharat Bhushan Ashu opens trial run of RUB from Pakhowal Road towards Sarabha Nagar

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, January 1

The Municipal Corporation started a trial run on the one side of the railway underbridge (RUB) from near Pakhowal Road Canal Bridge to Sarabha Nagar on Saturday. Cabinet Minister Bharat Bhushan Ashu opened the RUB for the trial run for vehicular movement.

However, some work is pending on the RUB that has been opened for the trial run. The scaffolding supporting the shuttering plates under the slabs are yet to be removed from the project site. Thus, the chances of any mishap can’t be ruled out in case any vehicle hits the scaffolding.

Ashu was accompanied by Mayor Balkar Singh Sandhu, Senior Deputy Mayor Sham Sunder Malhotra, MC Commissioner Pardeep Kumar Sabharwal and others.

The construction of a railway overbridge (ROB) and two railway under bridges on Pakhowal Road has been a long pending demand of the city residents.

The joint project is worth around Rs 123 crore and would provide much-needed respite from traffic congestion to the city residents.

While speaking to mediapersons on the occasion, Ashu said the RUB-2 was opened for a trial run today and within the next few days, when all the works are completed, it would be opened for vehicular traffic. He assured that all ongoing development projects in the Ludhiana (West) constituency are going on in full swing and would be completed in a set timeframe.

Ashu said the project would prove beneficial for area residents who currently suffer due to traffic congestion on Pakhowal Road.

Questions are being raised as incomplete RUB has been opened for a trial just ahead of the Assembly polls. A senior leader of the Shiromani Akali Dal Maheshinder Singh Grewal raised questions after Cabinet Minister Bharat Bhushan Ashu inaugurated the trial run of the incomplete RUB. He said the project is still incomplete and scaffoldings have not been removed, due to which any mishap can take place. The project has missed the deadline and could not be completed by January 2022, so the minister ‘inaugurated’ it in this condition.

The street lights are also yet to be installed.