First of Four Key Bridges on Sidhwan Canal Inaugurated, Now Open to Traffic

Chandigarh/Ludhiana: Fulfilling the long pending demand of area residents, Power, Industry & Commerce, Investment Promotion, and NRI Affairs Minister Sanjeev Arora, today inaugurated one Sidhwan Canal bridge today. It is part of the four bridges that are being constructed on the Sidhwan Canal towards South City side. He was also accompanied by Mayor Principal Inderjit Kaur, State Information Commissioner Harpreet Sandhu, Deputy Commissioner Himanshu Jain, besides area residents namely Mridula Jain, Radhika Jaitwani, Gagan Khanna to name a few. While inaugurating the Bridge, Sanjeev Arora stated that the first of four Sidhwan Canal bridges, constructed by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), has been inaugurated today, while the second will be inaugurated in next 10 days, and the remaining within next two months.

With a cost of Rs 16 crore, the four bridges on Sidhwan Canal are being constructed approximately 300 meters from the F2 Raceway Bridge and Barewal Bridge, on both the right and left sides.

Arora stated that the completion of these four bridges will significantly ease traffic congestion, particularly in Ludhiana’s South City areas. He said that earlier, area residents had to face traffic congestion as the existing bridges were not enough to handle the increased traffic on this road. He also congratulated NHAI for not compromising over the quality of construction of these bridges. He stated that after becoming a Member of Parliament in the Rajya Sabha in 2022, he met with Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways, Nitin Gadkari. Since then, he has held multiple meetings with the Secretary of MoRTH and the Chairpersons of NHAI, following a series of communications. He has consistently raised concerns related to NHAI and other infrastructure projects with them.

Mayor Principal Inderjit Kaur thanked Cabinet Minister for dedicating one of the four bridges for the residents. She said that it was only because of Sanjeev Arora’s dedication towards social service that these 4 bridges have come up. She said that several localities have come up along the Sidhwan Canal and these 4 bridges would provide a much needed respite from traffic congestion on this road.

State Information Commissioner and area resident Harpreet Sandhu thanked for the opening of this bridge and said that traffic hindrance for area residents would be cleared now.

Another area resident Mridula Jain from Shingora also thanked Cabinet Minister Sanjeev Arora for opening of this bridge. She said that around 10 years ago, she, along with other like minded people had started “Lets Clean Ludhiana Fountain”, and had worked for cleaning and construction of bridges on Sidhwan Canal. She thanked the Cabinet Minister for providing a permanent solution for traffic issue of the area.

DCP Rupinder also apprised Minister Arora on how the construction of these bridges will help alleviate traffic congestion.

In the end, Sanjeev Arora reaffirmed the Punjab government’s commitment, under Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann, to delivering world-class infrastructure, leaving no stone unturned to achieve this goal.

Prominent among those present on the occasion included Mayor Inderjit Kaur, State Information Commissioner Harpreet Sandhu, DC Himanshu Jain, DCP Rupinder, PD NHAI Priyanka Meena, Councillor Kapil Kumar Sonu, AAP leaders Bittu Bhullar, Satwinder Singh Jawaddi, Navdeep Navi among others.