Unexpected rain to delay Ludhiana’s elevated road project by 10 days
While the construction work on the elevated road project is being carried out in morning and night shifts to meet the June 30 deadline, rain played spoilsport leading to slush due to which work could not be carried out on Monday
Incessant rain since the wee hours on Monday halted the ongoing work on the elevated road on the Ferozepur Road, with the project likely to get delayed by at least 10 days.
“Every downpour results in delay of work by at least a week and with this downpour, the work is likely to get delayed by at least 10 days,” Krishan Lal Sachdeva, project director, NHAI, said.
While the construction work on the elevated road project is being carried out in morning and night shifts to meet the June 30 deadline, rain played spoilsport leading to slush due to which work could not be carried out on Monday.
“We can resume work only when earth is dry and when it is not raining. While it is our aim to finish the work in time and meet the June 30 deadline, rain is playing spoilsport,” Sachdeva said.
The ongoing construction work in the busiest part of city has already become a nightmare for commuters and the downpour worsened the traffic situation on Monday.
The 12.95km-long stretch between the busy Samrala Chowk and Ludhiana MC limits on the National Highway-5, costing ₹756.27 crore, was earlier set to be completed by March this year, but the initial deadline has been extended by another three months to June.
Traffic snarls the order of the day
The downpour led to massive jams in various parts of the city, adding to the inconvenience to commuters amid the ongoing construction projects.
Traffic was crawling on the busy roads, including Pakhowal Road, Ferozepur Road, Ghumar Mandi, Fountain Chowk, National Highway-44, and Chandigarh Road during office hours.
Roads remained clogged with vehicles as traffic movement came to a standstill due to slush and water accumulated on the roadsides.
Rain also deteriorated the situation at the slip road between Aarti Chowk to Bharat Nagar Chowk due to potholes. The single lane connecting commercial and posh areas of the city remained waterlogged as the road sunk into the earth at several places.
Commuters were at the receiving end as the traffic movement around Bharat Nagar Chowk, bus stand, and Jagraon bridge was moved on slip roads owing to the ongoing construction for the elevated road project.
Gurdeep Sembhi, a resident of Jamalpur, said that as the new academic session in schools has also commenced, the roads were packed with school buses and regular commuters.
Sharing his experience, he said that it took him 40 minutes to reach the Feroze Gandhi Market from the Dholewal flyover. He added that even minimum rain completely hampers the traffic flow in the city.
Puneet Singh, a resident of Mohan Nagar, shared that he remained stuck at the Fountain Chowk for over 20 minutes. He added that even as at least three traffic police personnel were deployed there, the situation remained the same.
Ludhiana receives 18mm rainfall
Ludhiana is witnessing an unusually wet April with the city receiving 18mm rainfall in the first three days of the month.
On Monday, Ludhiana received 13 mm rainfall that led to water logging in several areas of the city, leading to traffic jams.
PK Kingra, head of the climate change and agriculture metrological department said, “The shower spell is almost over, phenomenon is set to weaken by the evening of April 4 and temperatures will jump back to normal by April 5. So for the next two days, we can expect moderate temperature during daytime with scattered clouds.”
Though people in urban areas were spotted enjoying the cool weather and rain showers, farmers from the neighbouring villages fear that they may incur heavy loss this year due to damage to the wheat crop.
“Rains have wreaked havoc. It is heart wrenching to see our hard work of last six months going to vain. Government can only partially compensate our loss that too is not certain,” said Hardev Singh Sandhu, a farmer from Manuke village of Jagraon.
Gurmeet Singh Buttar, director of extension education at Punjab Agricultural University (PAU), told HT, “all the crops that were nearing maturity around third week of March, be it wheat or mustard, have been adversely impacted by the rains. District received 54 mm and 18 mm of rain in the months of March and April respectively. Total 72 mm of rain in the last 14 days is equivalent to one complete irrigation spell, absolutely devastating for the crop at this stage. In addition to that, lodging wheat crop will result in high cultivation cost as it becomes very difficult to harvest the plantation that is not in vertical position. It takes double the time to cultivate fallen crops with the combine.”