Residents protest delay in construction

LUDHIANA: With tenders received for the construction of missing link II of Southern Bypass being rejected by the projects approval committee of the Greater Ludhiana Area Development Authority (GLADA) for the second time in succession and execution of the project getting delayed further.

Residents of Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar, Guru Teg Bahadur Nagar and Gill hold a protest in Ludhiana on Wednesday. A Tribune photograph

Kuldip Bhatia

Ludhiana, December 17

With tenders received for the construction of missing link II of Southern Bypass being rejected by the projects approval committee of the Greater Ludhiana Area Development Authority (GLADA) for the second time in succession and execution of the project getting delayed further, residents of several villages located across the Dugri Dhandra Road to Dhuri railway line today held a protest against the GLADA authorities.

The protesting residents from Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar, Guru Teg Bahadur Nagar and Gill, along with panches and sarpanches of the respective villages, said the land for the construction of the missing link was acquired more than four years ago and as many as 200 constructed houses were also demolished for this purpose. However, the construction of the road had not been taken up despite assurances given by senior officials.

Sarpanch Om Parkash, Rakesh Kumar, Bahadur Singh, Bhola Singh, Nirmal Singh, Sanjay Tiwari, Gurveer Singh, Happy Khan, Gurmeet Singh and Sarbjit Singh Kochar, all residents of the affected villages, said tenders were rejected by the Tender Approval Committee, headed by the GLADA chief administrator, on flimsy grounds.

They said deliberate delay was being created in execution of the project by the official machinery for unknown reasons.

The GLADA authorities had invited tenders in July and again in September 2014 for the construction of 1.72 km of the missing link II from the Dugri-Dhandra Road to the Dhuri railway line at an estimated cost of Rs 18.49 crore towards the completion of the Southern Bypass.

According to GLADA additional chief administrator Kuldeep Singh, two bids received through e-tendering for the project, which were technically qualified, were discussed by the Tender Approval Committee. However, due to certain discrepancies in the offers made by construction agencies, the bids were rejected.

“Tenders for this work are in the process of being recalled in the next couple of days and the construction of missing link II will be taken up after fresh bids are received and the work awarded to the eligible agency,” he said.

But even after the construction of the missing link II, which also seems a distant dream as of now, the Southern Bypass would still take some more time to become fully operational as the case of another link with a length of little more than 2 km (from Dhuri Line to Gill Road) is still pending in the Supreme Court.