Check water discharge into Buddha Nullah in public presence: Gurpreet Gogi

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, May 2

When around 45 per cent of progress is claimed to have been made under the Rejuvenation of Buddha Nullah project, worth Rs 650 crore, questions are now being raised over its detailed project report (DPR).

Status of LSCL projects

• Completed projects: 29 of Rs 76.27 crore
• Projects under execution: 35 of Rs 709.15 crore
• Deposit works to Ludhiana MC: 11 projects of Rs 144.58 crore

In a review meeting, headed by MP Ravneet Singh Bittu, regarding Smart City Mission projects, MLA from Ludhiana West Gurpreet Gogi said the DPR was prepared by ignoring the facts. He claimed that the DPR was based on 519 MLD water discharge into the Buddha Nullah but a team from the IIT-Roorkee had found that the flow of water discharge in the Buddha Nullah was 874 MLD. Besides, the Irrigation Department had noticed around 800 MLD discharge flow, he added.

Gogi said the water discharge is actually higher in the Buddha Nullah than the claims made in the DPR. He has sought that the flow of water discharge into the Buddha Nullah must be checked in the presence of public. He said the truth should be brought to fore so that right steps be taken to make the Buddha Nullah pollution-free.

During the meeting, MP Ravneet Singh Bittu asked the officials concerned to float tenders for the remaining projects under the Smart City Mission at the earliest. He asked the Municipal Corporation officials to give special emphasis on the beautification of Ghumar Mandi Road, installation of cameras at various places under the Safe City project and installation of waste compactors.

When the Smart City Mission campaign was run around six years ago, a large number of residents voted to see improvement in traffic management and parking arrangements in the city. Ignoring the voting process, Smart City Mission Limited and the MC authorities failed to pay heed to resolve the issues.

In the meeting today, a road safety activist, Rahul Verma and one of the directors of Ludhiana Smart City Limited Sanjay Goel sought from the authorities to resolve the traffic and parking-related issues. The LSCL had earlier planned to construct new multi-level parking lots at a few locations, including Books Market and Feroze Gandhi Market, and an underground parking lot near Aarti Chowk but nothing was done. The proposed multi-level parking lots project has been ignored.

The issue regarding flaws in the Smart Street project on Malhar Road was once again raised during the meeting. The questions were raised over the buildings that have been constructed by violating parking norms or misuse of parking space. Meanwhile, MLA Gurpreet Gogi said under Smart City Project this road should be widened from both sides so as to resolve the traffic problem.

MLAs Madan Lal Bagga from Ludhiana North and Kulwant Singh Sidhu from Atam Nagar also attended the meeting. AAP MLAs also questioned why the Ludhiana North and Atam Nagar constituencies were ignored under the Smart City Mission. The officials then informed that the areas for the Smart City Mission were selected after voting by residents. The AAP MLAs have also asked officials of the Municipal Corporation to provide the list of those schools developed under the Ludhiana Smart City Mission.

MLA Kulwant Singh Sidhu also raised a number of issues related to his constituency. He said the garbage compactors should be installed under the Smart City Mission at the earliest.

Ludhiana Smart City Limited officials informed that 75 projects of Rs 930 crore were approved under the Smart City Mission.

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