NHAI told to complete service lane along Ludhiana’s elevated road on priority

With city residents at the receiving end due to road projects initiated by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) hanging fire, a meeting between senior officials of the district administration, municipal corporation, road safety experts and NHAI officials was held at the Circuit House on Saturday.

The NHAI officials were directed to ensure that the service lane along the upcoming elevated road is completed at the earliest on priority, as due to the construction of the project residents were suffering a lot.

The 12.9-km elevated road, being constructed from the erstwhile octroi post on the Ferozepur Road (NH-95) to the Samrala Chowk at a cost of Rs 756.2 crore, is taking a toll on the smooth flow of traffic.

Punjab food, civil supplies and consumer affairs minister Bharat Bhushan Ashu, who also attended the meeting, took up several issues related to the ongoing projects in the district.

The projects discussed at the meeting included work on NH 44, the elevated road project (Samrala Chowk to Ferozepur Road), Chandigarh Road, besides others.

Ashu took stock of the current status of the ongoing projects and directed the NHAI officials to speed up the work.He said service lanes are part of every project, and if these roads remain in bad shape, responsibility of officials will be fixed and strict action will be taken against them.

Besides, issues related to the entry and exit points on the NH-44 (GT Road) were also discussed and the NHAI officials assured that all issues will be dealt with on priority.

He said to ease congestion for traffic coming from the Ferozepur side and headed towards the bus stand, the department is planning to construct a loop near Hotel Gulmohar on Ferozepur Road in place of an underpass.

NHAI officials were also told to expedite work on Ladhowal bypass and fixing of streetlights on NH-44, among others.