Passing by means of the guts of Ludhiana, Punjab’s industrial hub grappling with excessive air air pollution and different environmental considerations since many years now, the 4/6 lane Elevated Freeway has modified metropolis’s panorama, fairly actually.
In a primary such view for Ludhianvis, the outdated institutions on Ferozepur street equivalent to the enduring Punjab Agricultural College (PAU) or Resort Park Plaza, the town’s first ‘five-star’ facility at the moment are half-visible, with large flyover erected at their entrance. The town has additionally sacrificed iconic spots equivalent to Aarti Chowk, which had the statue of famous Punjabi poet Prof Mohan Singh, for the mission.
Nonetheless, the 12.65-km-long Elevated Freeway, from Samrala Chowk to MC limits (in the direction of Jagraon) through metropolis’s bottleneck Bharat Nagar Chowk and Amar Shaheed Sukhdev Thapar bus terminal (major bus stand), has come as a breather for residents of Ludhiana, who’ve been relieved of fixed congestions and site visitors woes, to an ideal extent. The top to finish travelling time from Samrala Chowk to MC limits has been diminished from 30-40 minutes to 8-10 solely, thus saving at the least 20-25 minutes.
What nonetheless stays a serious concern is the shortage of greenery beneath the lengthy flyover, the place the patches of soil beds are mendacity barren and parched, with out a single sapling planted both by the Nationwide Highways Authority of India (NHAI), which has undertaken your entire mission, or the native Municipal Company. Began in October 2017, the mission initially had met with lots of resistance from metropolis residents as at the least 3,000 timber have been chopped for it from Ferozepur street, the town’s lifeline (beforehand NH-95 and new NH-5).
Map of the freeway.
Executed by the NHAI, the elevated street has been constructed for Rs 756.27 crore (totally funded by the Centre through Union Ministry of Highway Transport and Highways). It was lastly accomplished in March this 12 months.
What has come as one other main reduction is the accessibility to the town’s major bus stand, additionally close to the perennial bottleneck Bharat Nagar Chowk, and now residents of colonies on Ferozepur street equivalent to Aggar Nagar, Rajguru Nagar, BRS Nagar, Sarabha Nagar, PAU residents, and so on can attain bus stand in lower than 10 minutes, which earlier took at the least half an hour.
ACP (site visitors) Charanjiv Lamba says that the Elevated Highway has develop into the lifeline of the town, relieving residents from congestions and site visitors snarls on the Ferozepur street, which can be a nationwide freeway. “Locations equivalent to Samrala Chowk, bus stand have develop into simply accessible. It isn’t solely lowering the travelling time for the folks but additionally saving gas and can assist in lowering air pollution as a result of congestion-free drive on the flyover,” says ACP Lamba.
The freeway has modified Ludhiana’s panorama (Picture: Gurmeet Singh)
Nonetheless, some points with the design nonetheless stay. “I’ve additionally written to the NHAI for extending the median at Bhai Wala Chowk by 200 metres and a few redesign work which is required at Bharat Nagar Chowk,” says ACP Lamba.
The mission can even assist residents in reaching the upcoming Halwara Airport in lesser time.
No inexperienced cowl
Lack of inexperienced cowl beneath and alongside the brand new flyover has made the brand new mission merely a concrete jungle. Ludhiana is among the many most polluted cities on the planet, the key sources being trade and big vehicular burden.
Navratan, mission director, NHAI, Ludhiana, stated that they’ve already compensated for the misplaced greenery by finishing up plantations elsewhere as per unique plan. He stated that planting saplings beneath the flyover was not a “a part of the unique mission”.
“Planting saplings beneath the flyover was not part of the unique mission. However seeing the demand of the residents, we’re taking it up and would possibly plant saplings in coming months,” stated the NHAI official.
Barren street divider beneath elevated street on Ferozpur street in Ludhiana. (Specific Picture by Gurmeet Singh)
“Immediately, the mission has diminished journey time and congestion however not directly, it is going to additionally scale back vehicular emission and save gas as a result of hassle-free driving,” stated NHAI official.
Rahul Verma, member, Punjab State Highway Security Council, stated that greenery was not solely lacking beneath the flyover but additionally alongside the freeway from the place timber have been chopped for the mission. “It’s NHAI’s ethical accountability to revive inexperienced cowl on Ferozepur street from the place that they had chopped a number of grand-old timber for the mission,” stated Verma.
Ludhiana AQI (air high quality index) was recorded at 172 (average) up to now 24 hours.