Title - LMC identifying land for metro

Municipal Corporation Ludhiana has started identifying land for metro stations here, which will soon be acquired after following a due procedure. The state government has already approved a metro project worth Rs. 10,300 crore that would benefit a large number of people and would also solve the problem of traffic congestion to a great extent. Two corridors measuring 29kms, includes the 16-km long East-West corridor and 13-km long North-South corridor.The East-West corridors will have 14 stations, whereas the North-South corridor will have 13 stations, the work on which will start early next year. MC plans to complete the work by 2017."We have started identifying land, which will be acquired by the government to construct metro stations," said HS Khosa, additional commissioner (technical) at LMC.Officials from Ludhiana as well as from Jalandhar and Patiala would start identifying the land and a report would be sent to the state government within 15 days so that the work on the procurement of land could be started as soon as possible."We are on an advanced stage of the project and the Delhi metro team is also scheduled to visit Ludhiana next week," Khosa said.|In October 2007, the Punjab Infrastructure Development Board (PIDB) had asked the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) to prepare a detailed project report for the Ludhiana Metro project. The state government had at that time estimated the project cost at Rs. 30 billion. DMRC in the project report had suggested a 29 km route, of which 12 km stretch was to be constructed underground, while the remaining 17 km was planned above the ground.

Stations that will come on the East-West corridor, includes Ayali Chowk, Rajguru Nagar, Agar Nagar, BRS Nagar, PAU, Arti Chowk, Bharat Nagar, Government College for Girls Durga Mata Mandir. From here the metro would go underground and touch Gurudwara Shri Dukhnivaran Sahib, Civil hospital, Samrala Chowk, Vardman mills, Jamalpur, BBMB Power House.

The stations on the North-South corridor would, include Gill village, GNDEC College, Shimlapuri, Gill Chowk, Kartar Singh Market and from here the metro would go underground and touch bus stand, Guru Nanak Stadium, Railway station, Daresi ground, Guru Nanak Nagar, Basti Jodhewal, Rahon Octroi Post.

Municipal Commissioner, Rakesh Kumar Verma had recently said that metro rail announced for Ludhiana would improve the public transport system in city.