RUB on one side to function in three months, say minister

Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, December 20

The one side of the upcoming Pakhowal Road rail under bridge (RUB) would be opened to vehicular traffic in the next three months.

This was stated by Punjab Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Minister Bharat Bhushan Ashu after visit to the project site to assess the progress of the project. He was accompanied by City Mayor Balkar Singh Sandhu, Ludhiana Improvement Trust (LIT) Chairman Raman Balasubramaniam and MC Commissioner Pardeep Kumar Sabharwal.

Due to traffic congestion all across the stretch of the Pakhowal road, the construction of an ROB and two RUBs on this road had been a long-pending demand of the city residents. The projects being executed at a total cost of around Rs 120 crore would provide the much-needed respite from traffic snarls and bottlenecks to city residents.

Ashu said the ROB would be 839.83m in length and would be constructed from the Sidhwan Canal side towards the Hero Bakery side, along Pakhowal Road over the existing rail tracks, while the RUB-1 would be 458.20m in length (from the Hero Bakery side towards the Sidhwan Canal side, along Pakhowal Road under the existing railway tracks) and RUB-2 would be 1018.46m in length (from Ishmeet Road towards Rotary Club Road onto Ferozepur Road and Ishmeet Road towards Pakhowal Road).

He said the project was one of the main promises he had made to the residents of the Ludhiana (West) constituency. With one side of the RUB being operational, it would provide the much-needed respite in traffic movement to residents.

The minister also directed the MC Commissioner to hold a meeting with the Railways authorities at the earliest so that there was no delay of any kind in the completion of this project as per the schedule.

Mechanised sweeping

In yet another development, Ashu said very soon, mechanised sweeping would commence in Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar, Maharishi Valmiki Nagar, Rajguru Nagar and Sant Ishar Singh Nagar colonies (of the LIT). This would come as a big relief to residents of these localities who had been making regular complaints about the poor level of sanitation caused due to the shortage of safai workers.

He said as a pilot project, the LIT was introducing mechanised sweeping from the Maharishi Valmiki Nagar area and later, it would be launched in other colonies as well. The minister was interacting with residents of the colony today.

Projects to provide much-needed relief

The construction of an ROB and two RUBs on the Pakhowal road had been a long-pending demand of the city residents due to traffic congestion all across the stretch of the road. Projects being executed at a total cost of around Rs 120 crore would provide the much-needed respite from traffic snarls and bottlenecks to city residents.