RailEnquiry

Ludhiana : It seems the road for the Ludhiana Metro rail project is not going to be easy with shopkeepers and residents, whose land is to be acquired for this project, voicing their anger against the project. Shopkeepers of the Gill Road area have said they want the state government to scrap this project because its "not going to be viable for the city".Corridor two of this project will pass through the Gill Road area and for the construction of stations, some land may have to be acquired.A team of the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation is in city and is conducting a survey so that the final detailed project report on the Ludhiana Metro Rail project can be prepared.Speaking to The Tribune, JS Bajaj, general secretary of the Iron and Steel Dealers Association, Guru Nanak Dev Market, Gill Road, said the Ludhiana Metro rail project would be a wastage of public money.

“Most residents feel that the city should not have a Metro rail project. Besides, we fail to understand why there is need for constructing five stations on a stretch of 4.5 km? More than 100 shops will be acquired on Gill Road alone if the state government goes ahead with this project,” he said.

He said he had come to know that the state government would not give due compensation for this project. “The market value of a shop on Gill Road is around Rs 2.5 lakh per sq yard and if the state government goes ahead with this project, shopkeepers will be ruined,” said Bajaj, who also claimed that he had come to know that some residents were planning to file a public interest litigation in this regard.

Meanwhile, Deepak Sharma, president of the Gill Road Shopkeepers Association, said the present site of a Metro station at Shaheed Kartar Singh Sarabha Market on Gill Road was of no use for the residents. He urged the visiting DMRC team to shift the Metro station to a new site opposite the office of the United Cycle and Parts Manufacturers Association as people from a large number of localities would benefit from it.

WHY 5 STATIONS?

"Most residents feel that the city should not have a Metro rail project. Besides, we fail to understand why there is need for constructing five stations on a stretch of 4.5 km? More than 100 shops will be acquired on Gill Road alone if the state government goes ahead with this project." — JS Bajaj, gen secy, iron dealers' assn