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Ludhiana | Transport Nagar ‘neglected’, truckers rue indifference
Accusing the Ludhiana civic body of adopting indifferent attitude, transporters rued lack of infrastructure and failure of authorities in upgrading the area. They said Transport Nagar was established around 50 years back and the number and size of trucks have increased manifold in this time. But nothing concrete has been done to upgrade the infrastructure, they said
Despite being an integral part of the industry and a significant contributor to the state exchequer, transporters in the largest Transport Nagar of the state are forced to run their businesses in extremely inhospitable conditions.
Potholed roads, clogged sewage leading to waterlogging, heaps of garbage and regular instances of theft are the top concerns of the transporters, which have been allegedly overlooked by the authorities in the past. Transport Nagar is spread in over 114 acres, housing 1,200 transporters with a daily average of loading and unloading of 1,000 trucks.
In July this year, MLA (Ludhiana Central) Ashok Prashar Pappi, along with municipal corporation (MC) Commissioner Shena Aggarwal, had inspected the area and assured to improve the conditions by installing storm water sewer lines and recarpeting/repairing the roads.
Despite the claims, even a short spell of rainfall leaves the area inundated and the transporters face difficulties even in reaching out to their respective units.
“After a few hours of rainfall, it takes over two days for the water to drain out. The construction work on two out of seven roads approved by the previous government is still pending, resulting in traffic jams and road accidents. The condition of roads at both the entry points of Transport Nagar is pathetic with deep potholes. In many instances, tyres of the heavy vehicles also burst due to the potholes,” JP Aggarwal, president of Ludhiana Goods Transport Association. said.
He added that due to the lack of parking space, the truckers are forced to park the trucks on roads. “There are two main parking spaces with a capacity of 1,000 trucks in the area but both are not in use as these have not been properly levelled. Also, there are a large number of encroachments at the parking sites,” he said.
Accusing the civic body of adopting indifferent attitude, transporters rued lack of infrastructure and failure of authorities in upgrading the area. They said Transport Nagar was established around 50 years back and the number and size of trucks have increased manifold in this time. But nothing concrete has been done to upgrade the infrastructure, they said.
“We have repeatedly requested the civic body that we are ready to maintain the parking sites once these are made operational, but nothing has been done at ground level,” JP Aggarwal said.
Fear spread of diseases
Along with transporters, Transport Nagar also houses many tyre businesses, godowns and eateries. Because of the poor conditions of the sewage, transporters worry that such conditions may spread diseases in the area.
“All the roads and parking spaces are inundated after rainfall. With garbage piled up at almost every nook and corner of Transport Nagar , many drivers complain of health issues as they mostly sleep in trucks,” Jagdish Singh Jassowal, a transporter, said.
Gurdev Singh, who owns New Banga transport company, said, “We are the only ones who pay all the taxes to the government beforehand. After agriculture and industry, a large number of people are involved in this business, but the sector is reeling under neglect for decades.”
MC additional commissioner, Aaditya Dachalwal said a number of roads in Transport Nagar fall under the jurisdiction of Punjab Small Industries and Exports Corporation (PSIEC), but the civic body is still working on a project to reconstruct the roads as those are in bad condition. Further, directions would also be issued to operations and maintenance (O and M) wing officials of the MC to look into the complaints of clogged sewer lines, he said.
Thefts and attacks on truck drivers a regular affair
Truck drivers and transporters complained that there is no security by police during the night time, which gives a free hand to miscreants and thieves to attack and rob drivers. They said instances of mobile snatching, stealing tyres and batteries from the trucks and attacks on truck drivers are a routine affair.
Jagtar Singh, a truck driver, said, “Drivers feel very scared to get down from the trucks during the night hours. Groups of goons with sticks and knives roam around the area at night and beat the drivers to snatch money and mobile phones.”
Transporters demanded that a separate police post should be set up in the area to curb crime. Repeated requests have been made to the administration and police regarding the same, but to no avail, they added.
