Work on long pending Ring Road Phase 1 at Bathinda start
Amrit Pal Singh Brar
Bathinda, October 14: The Rs 95 crores project of Ring Road, which was lying pending for the past nearly two decades was started on Sunday by Punjab Finance Minister Manpreet Badal. Though, the SAD BJP ruled the state for continuous ten years, but this important project could not see the light of day.
Addressing a huge gathering of citizens, Manpreet Badal said “The completion of project will drastically reduce the traffic congestion in the city and also help commuters reaching Mansa Road from Barnala road in little time”.
It was after a long period that winning smiles and huge enthusiasm was seen on the face of the congress cadre and citizens present on the occasion.
Manpreet Badal stated that this four-lane road with lot of green cover will have a length of nearly 5 kilometers and it will also be comprised of one Railway Under bridge. It will be 200 feet wide road with 24 feet for the green cover.
The road is to be built on a 45-acre area starting from National Highway-7 (Bathinda-Patiala Road) through the Industrial Area up to ITI Chowk (Bathinda-Mansa Road). "The completion of this project will help in getting rid of the traffic congestion in city, especially from the heavy vehicles and it will also reduce commuter's travel distance," the Finance Minister said.
He said that almost all the promises made with the residents of Bathinda are being fulfilled one by one and he will not leave any stone unturned to complete all the pending projects of Bathinda. Manpreet Badal said “Next on the agenda are AC bus stand and two ROBs, one in Janta nagar and one in Sirki bazaar”. The Janta nagar ROB will be a unique Y type design bridge, he said.
Manpreet Badal declared with establishment of two ROBs, the whole city will be connected through ROBs and it will be hasslefree entry for the people coming from different sides.
He said that the project will be completed within the stipulated time period of around six months. With the completion of this ring road, the distance of vehicles going from Barnala side to Mansa, Dabwali and Takht Sri Damdama Sahib will also be reduced, he said.
He said that the distance of nearly 6 to 8 kms will reduce for the vehicles going directly from Barnala Road to Mansa Road and vice versa.
Manpreet Badal assured the residents of the improvement trust colonies that pending issues related with enhancement in some of colonies of trust would be solved soon. “We are taking up this matter most probably in the next meeting of cabinet to be held after 21 October”.
The Finance Minister also released the book 'Manja Banta rte Parkaraj da Lokdharai Parpekh', written by Arshadeep Kaur on the occasion.
Among others who were also present during the occasion included Bathinda DC B. Srinivasan, Improvement Trust Chairman Kewal Krishan Aggarwal, Darshan Singh Jeeda, Rajan Garg, Mohan Lal Jhumba, Tehal Singh Sandhu, Ashok K Pardhan, Raj Lambardar, Jagroop Gill, Captain Mal Singh, Malkeet Singh, Master Harmander Singh MC, Sham Lal Jain MC and Jaijeet Johal bother in law of FM.