With the aim to decongest Patiala city, Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Wednesday gave in-principle approval for the construction of a ring road around the city, connecting Sirhind Road, Bhadson Road, and leading up to Nabha road till Sangrur. The Chief Minister asked the Principal Secretary PWD (B & R) to immediately take up various pending issues related to the Patiala Ring Road with the Union Road Transport and Highways Ministry to ensure its completion in a time-bound manner.At a meeting with PWD officials here, the Chief Minister also gave his nod for another ring road which would connect Sirhind Road through the industrial zone. He sanctioned another small southern ring 200’ wide in the South-East direction of Patiala city, connecting Rajpura Road with alleviated Southern Bypass and Sanaur Road, as per the Master Plan.The Union Minister has already agreed to consider construction of ring roads around major cities including Sangrur, Bathinda, Jalandhar, Patiala, Mohali/Chandigarh and Ludhiana. The State Government has also given its consent to bear 50% cost on account of land acquisition. The entire cost of construction including 50% acquisition cost would be borne by the Union Ministry.
The Chief Minister underlined the importance of creating a network of ring roads around the major cities, saying it was imperative to divert non-city traffic out of the city to ease vehicular congestion on inner city routes. The concept of city ring roads was conceived in view of the future growth trends of urbanisation, economic growth, synchronization with planned development as per Master Plan, as well smooth and safe movement of city and external traffic.
Notably, a committee at the District Level was constituted to suggest possible ring road alignments to the State Level Committee comprising ACS Revenue, ACS Housing, PSF and Secretary Public Works (B & R) for assessing land acquisition and project feasibility. The district level committee, under the Chairmanship of DC Patiala, had CA Patiala Development Authority, District Town Planner, Commissioner Municipal Corporation Patiala and Executive Engineer Central Works Division as members. The State Level Committee was mandated to recommend suitable alignments to the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways.The meeting was also attended by Punjab Housing and Urban Development Minister Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa, PWD Minister Vijay Inder Singla, Media Advisor to CM Raveen Thukral, ACS Finance Kalpna Mittal Baruah, Principal Secretary to CM Tejveer Singh, Principal Secretary Housing and Urban Development A. Venu Prasad, Principal Secretary PWD Hussan Lal, DC Patiala Kumar Amit, CA PDA Patiala Surbhi Malik and CTP Punjab Gurpreet Singh.