Railway underpass thrown open to public

The much-awaited railway underpass on Lodhi Club Road which had been constructed at a cost of around Rs 37 crore was finally thrown open to the public on Thursday.

Though the opening was delayed by an hour against the scheduled time of 2.30 pm, the event was given a political flavour with the SAD-BJP members pushing each other so that their photographs could be clicked for getting credit in opening of the underpass.

However, the Congress had served an ultimatum to the SAD-BJP leaders to throw open the underpass or else they would open it for the public.

Earlier, HT had highlighted that the underpass was waiting for its opening after completion.

As the Congress had recently raised questions over the strained ties between the SAD and the BJP, a large number of their supporters were seen raising slogans in the favour of their respective parties during the inauguration ceremony for which political banners and posters were also installed in an unauthorised way.

Irrigation minister Sharanjit Singh Dhillon opened the underpass in the hustle and bustle created by the political supporters.

Criticising the Congress for launching a misleading campaign against the SAD-BJP alliance, Dhillon said the coalition between the SAD and the BJP was rock solid. Rumours regarding the tug of war between the alliance partners were misleading.

The commuters from Ferozepur Road to Pakhowal Road, Dugri or other areas can cover the distance within a few minutes.

Meanwhile, Dhillon said, “Our government has constructed Lakkar Bridge flyover, Sidhwan Canal Expressway project, Partap Chowk flyover, Gill Road flyover, pedestrian underpass near mini-secretariat and Aggar Nagar, besides several other projects. The Congress and its leaders have done nothing for the overall development of the city. All they can do is issue misleading statements for their own vested interests.”

MLAs Manpreet Singh Ayali Darshan Singh Shivalik and Ranjit Singh Dhillon, mayor Harcharan Singh Gohalwaria, vice-chairman of Punjab State Planning Board Rajinder Bhandari and district BJP president Parveen Bansal were also present.