Indian Express 16.06.2010
With eye on Assembly polls, MC offers bouquet of 33 projects to residents
Raakhi Jagga Tags : projects, corporation Posted: Wed Jun 16 2010, 23:45 hrs
Ludhiana: With an eye on the Assembly elections, the Municipal Corporation has announced the commencement of 33 projects, worth Rs 1,000 crore, which will be completed in two years.Sources revealed that the announcement of all the projects in one go were made on the instructions of Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal.
However, looking at the past record of the MC it seems very unlikely that all the projects would be complete by 2012 before the Assembly polls.
The major projects include development of missing links in Urban Estate Phase- III to Pakhowal Road worth Rs 200 crore. The work is scheduled to get over by next May.
The upgradation of sewerage treatment plants (STP) worth Rs 100 crore will be done by July 2010 as per the deadline, but at the moment only 20 per cent work is complete. Even the existing STPs are not fully operational.
An elevated road from Vishvkarma Chowk to General Post Office (GPO) on Ferozepur Road will be made worth Rs 320 crore. The work will start in October 2010 and will be over by 2013. Another leg of elevated road from GPO will go till Delta Hospital with another Rs 100 crore into the project. It will start in January 2011 to be completed in 2013.
The parking complex of Feroze Gandhi market with a cost of Rs 15 crore will be complete by January 2012. With an expenditure of Rs 47 lakh on the Leisure Valley along Sidhwan Canal, the MC has proposed Rs 2 crore for the project which will get complete in a year. The ‘enhanced’ beautification is needed because Express Highway is being built along the canal with a cost of Rs 328 crore, said the members. So they approved the wastage of Rs 47 lakh on the project.
The city bus service at a cost of Rs 66 crore will also start from December this year. Many other projects of ROB and RUBs were also announced and a majority will start within this year. Not even the sample testing has been done of the ROB of Pakhowal Road, but authorities claim to start the project by July 2010. If all the 33 projects start simultaneously, the city will see traffic jams, but no queries were answered on this subject.
