Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal, today fast tracked his vision to make this Industrial Capital of the state, a world class city by launching Rs. 2100 crore Mission Ludhiana project, which will make Ludhiana the most planned city in the country within three years. Mr. Badal also handed over the keys of newly built 1100 houses to slum dwellers besides flagging off a fleet of new 20 city buses for the facilitation of daily commuters.Giving a detailed presentation to Ludhiana residents at Nirvana Bhawan here, Mr. Badal said besides 8 laning of the Ludhiana-Ferozepur expressway, the city would be the first Safe City with upgraded roads, traffic decongestion, 100 percent cover of sewerage and potable water supply, complete installation of CCTV cameras, sewerage treatment plant, under passes and world class landscaping.Describing Ludhiana as one of the most preferred destination for business as per the reports of World Bank, Mr. Badal said that the land acquisition process for expansion of Sahnewal Airport was in an advanced stage of completion. He said that within one and half year Ludhiana would witness the landing of Boeings like Delhi and other airports in country. He said that this expansion would give a further push to the pace of industrial growth in the state.
Promising the citizens of the city to establish a world class Down Town at par with Dubai, Mr. Badal said a chunk of more than 50 acres of land has been identified for this purpose near PAU. He said Rs. 243 crore road project from Jagraon Bridge to Sidhwan Canal would be expedite, which would be completed by the end of next year. Announcing a new bypass from Jagraon-Ludhiana Road to Ladowal further leading to Jalandhar, Mr. Badal said this Rs. 425 crore project would be initiated in February next and be dedicated to the public in December 2015. He said 60 percent construction has been completed on Ferozepur-Ludhiana Road and the whole construction would be concluded within next 6-7 months. He that after two years the Ludhiana-Chandigarh road would become 6 lane while Ludhiana-Moga be four lane. He said the physical work on Chandigarh-Ludhiana 6 lane expressway would commence from October 2014 with at a cost of Rs. 1400 crore.Badal said the state Government had handed over the keys of 1100 newly built houses to slum dwellers constructed with total Rs. 150 crore and there was proposal to build 25000 more houses for slum dwellers. He said that after three years there would be no slum in the city as it would get the status of slum free city. He said that Punjab Government would launch a toll free number, where the residents could register their complaints regarding slums and effective and instant action would be taken on the plaints. He said soon Ludhiana would witness mechanised cleaning and washing of roads as the Punjab had approved a Rs. 50 crore project in this regard.Badal reiterating his resolve to promote sports in the state said that with a total cost of Rs. 50 crore the construction of world class Pakhowal Sports Stadium was on full swing, which would become operational by the end of next year. He said that international sports events would be organised in this multipurpose indoor sports stadium.Announcing setting up of world class Amusement Park, wildlife safari and multi facility Tourist Park on 1100 acres of land,
Badal said that this would be established at Mattewara for which 1100 acres of land has been identified.Badal said that under the green city project Ludhiana would be developed as greenest city in the state to combat pollution menace. He said that a group of Industrialists have been adopted the city for its total facelift and sapling of plants besides their maintenance. He said that world renowned company has taken the project to put the city on single look and no defacement would be allowed.Meanwhile, the Deputy CM also laid the foundation stone of Rs. 243-crore for remodeling of Ferozepur Road and construction of three underpasses. He also laid the foundation stone of remodeling of Rahon Road and other major roads within the city worth Rs. 75 crores. The projects are expected to ease traffic snarls on the busiest roads.Mr. Badal with a view to provide 100% water supply to the rural as well as urban habitats laid the foundation stone of the water supply project worth Rs. 116-crore. Mr. Badal also laid the foundation stone of the project costing Rs. 88 crore to execute works on various internal roads of Ludhiana. An ambitious ‘safe city’ project, first of its kind, costing Rs. 3 crore, creating “Manchester of Punjab-Ludhiana” as the state’s first ‘Safe City” has also been inaugurated by Mr. Badal. After formally launching the project, Mr. Badal said the project included installation of hundreds of CCTV cameras, sensors, automatic license plate readers and other security gadgets.Meanwhile, Deputy CM also flagged off fleet of 20 new city buses and announced that a fleet of 250 more buses would also be included in the existing fleet of 72 buses. He said that it would include Air Conditioned, Ordinary and mini buses.Prominent amongst others who were present on the occasion included Mr. Sharanjit Singh Dhillon, PWD Minister, Mr. Som Parkash, Chief Parliamentary Secretary, Mr. Darshan Singh Shivalik, Mr. Ranjit Singh Dhillon, both MLAs, Prof. Rajinder Bhandari, Vice Chairman Planning Board, Mr. H.S. Gohalwaria, Mayor, Mr. Mahesh Inder Singh Grewal, Advisor to CM, Mr. Hira Singh Gabria, Mr. Tikshan Sud, Mr. Satpal Gosain, all former minister and Mr. Parveen Bansal, President District BJP .