Title - Ludhiana set for a date with metro

CHANDIGARH Punjab is set to have a date with modernity, and the Manchester of India with metro. Ludhiana, the bursting-at-the-seams industrial hub of Punjab, will soon have metro rail criss-crossing in two corridors on elevated and underground pathways. Fast-tracking the big-ticket project to establish Metro Rail Transit System (MRTS) in Ludhiana at a whopping cost of Rs 10,000 crore, the Punjab Government has ordered a feasibility report. Almost a year after the Punjab Cabinet accorded in-principle approval to the mega project, the Centre has agreed to give financial and technical support to help realise another dream project of Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal. With a view to bring the first-ever metro to the border state, Chief Secretary Rakesh Singh has given nod to the 29-km-long public transport network in public-private partnership (PPP) mode. The state government has engaged Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) to prepare feasibility report for MRTS for Ludhiana. Confirming this, Principal Secretary Local Government Suresh Kumar told Daily Post that the prescribed proforma of the Union Finance Ministry had been sent to the DMRC for preparing a feasibility report, which would be sent to the Planning Commission through the Finance Ministry for approval. The Commission had already agreed to consider the project for financial-cum-technical assistance. Putting the dream project in top gear, the Chief Minister has, in a demi-official letter to Planning Commissioner Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia, stated that the state government was keen on developing Ludhiana as a world-class city and MRTS would be one of the key infrastructural projects for the city. “We have engaged DMRC for preparing a detailed report for the project which has since been approved by the state government and it has been decided to implement the project on PPP basis,” Badal wrote, adding that his government was keen on seeking assistance of the Planning Commission in taking the proposal forward. Badal requested Ahluwalia to advise concerned officers of Planning Commission to extend necessary assistance to the officers.