Title - All roads lead to chaos

Thanks to lack of planning and lackadaisical approach of authorities in meeting the deadlines, the development projects, which government started to improve the connectivity of city to the surrounding areas, have become a major cause of concern for commuters.Non-completion of as many as five projects has left the commuters high and dry in and around the vicinity of Ludhiana.And with authorities planning to introduce a few more projects including much touted metro project, the commuters travelling around the city are resenting.In fact worst affected are the commuters passing through the Samrala Chowk for Chandigarh where six lane project is under way. Besides there are host of other projects like the 'Lakarwala pul', railway over bridge near Lodhi club for linking the Ferozepur road with Pakhowal road and the road near Basant avenue."Every time I go to Chandigarh I spend considerable time crossing the stretch near Samrala Chowk due to traffic bottlenecks. While old projects have not been completed yet, government is now going ahead with the new ones," complained Sachin Kapoor, a businessman and a city resident.Dr Vivek Saggar, a resident of Country homes, who regularly commutes to Jalandhar and Chandigarh said, "Already there is heavy traffic at Jagraon bridge as work on Lakkar pul is yet to be completed. Now we are hearing the government is planning to close the entrance to Country homes from Ferozepur road side because of upcoming project. This would lead to heavy traffic jams," he said.

While the government is yet to show urgency in completion of projects, local authorities maintained that all efforts were being made to streamline the traffic and complete the projects.

"I do agree that there is a problem for the residents. But all efforts are being made to complete the pending projects by streamlining the work. It will be my earnest endeavour to plan the things with the officials in such a way that the public is exposed to minimum inconvenience," said Ludhiana Mayor, Harcharan Singh Gohalwaria.

When contacted Commissioner Municipal Corporation, Ludhiana, RK Verma "I have joined few months ago and my focus is on streamlining the work in the city so that the pending projects are completed in time."