Fund crunch halts slip road work again

Harshraj Singh
Tribune News Service
Ludhiana, November 21

After missing several deadlines in the past one decade, construction of a slip road from Canal Bridge from Pakhowal Road towards Jawaddi has been stopped once again due to ‘non-release’ of payment to the contractor. The slip road is a part of Southern Bypass project being executed by the PWD.

As the slip road work is hanging fire, commuters are forced to suffer. Many can be seen taking the wrong side, risking their lives. The pillars for the slip road were constructed several years ago but work to construct the road was resumed in November, 2018. The PWD had then claimed that the road would be completed within three months.

The Southern Bypass project started in 2009, but work had to be repeatedly stalled due to a shortage of funds.

The commuters’ woes are bound to increase when construction of a railway overbridge and underbridge will start on the nearby Pakhowal Road in coming days.

Rahul Verma of Sambhav Foundation, an NGO, said: “At present, water is not being released in the canal and the authorities concerned can easily complete the construction of slip road. The PWD should ensure early completion of the road so that commuters don’t face inconvenience when the construction of an ROB and an RUB starts.”

A resident of Pakhowal Road, Satish Kumar, said: “The pillars of the slip road were constructed a long time ago but the project is still incomplete. It has been seen that projects are often delayed but responsibility of officials and contractors concerned is seldom fixed. The slip road should be completed at the earliest.” 

Superintending Engineer of PWD Kulwant Singh said the construction of slip road was stopped due to non-release of payment. 

He said the payment will be released to the contractor at the earliest and road work will be completed soon.