Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal on Thursday urged the union shipping, road transport and highways minister Nitin Jairam Gadkari to intervene and direct the officials concerned to consider the ring road project around Ludhiana city under Engineering Procurement and Construction (EPC) mode to be implemented through state public works department (PWD).
In a letter to Gadkari, Badal apprised him that the state government was already constructing a four-lane Southern Bypass around Ludhiana starting from NH-1 near Doraha (Khanna-Ludhiana section) connecting NH-95 (Ludhiana-Moga section) outside the city along Sidhwan Canal to ease the traffic in the city.
He said there was an urgent need to extend this bypass further and connect it again with NH-1 near Laddowal village towards Jalandhar.
“With extension of this Southern Bypass up to Laddowal, Jalandhar bound traffic will not have access to enter the Ludhiana city. The length of this proposed Greenfield Bypass will be 16.58 km,” Badal stated.
The CM further stated that the state government was also ready to bear some percentage of the cost of land acquisition.