Harshraj Singh

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, June 5

The Smart Street project on Malhar Road has already missed its deadline while traders have been raising questions over the project design again. Now, a store owner is facing inconveniences due to the ongoing project as he claimed that they are unable to park vehicles in the designated parking area of the store after a wide footpath has been constructed between the store and the road.

Ram Gupta, the owner of a showroom on Malhar Road, said: “As per rules, space was left for parking of vehicles in front of our store building. Now, a footpath of about 6 inches (height) has been constructed outside the store while a structure for the installation of a transformer has been constructed on another side of the building. Now, we are unable to park vehicles in the parking space. No space has been left for the passage of vehicles to the designated parking area.”

He said: “I don’t understand how the project was designed. Many other shopkeepers are also not satisfied with the ongoing project. I demand from Ludhiana Smart City Limited and the MC officials concerned to take necessary steps to resolve the problem at the earliest.”

Members of the Malhar Road Shopkeepers Association had earlier also raised questions over the project design. They had demanded from the authorities to rectify the project design. A shopkeeper said: “Malhar Road was once known as one of the widest roads but now, its width has been reduced. Some other shopkeepers had raised the issue regarding parking of vehicles but to no avail. Footpaths being constructed are too wide.”

Notably, the civic body authorities had recently inspected the ongoing construction work on Malhar Road and found some other flaws there. MC Commissioner-cum-CEO of Ludhiana Smart City Limited Pardeep Kumar Sabharwal had also issued show-cause notices to three officials of B&R and O&M branches of the civic body.

Meanwhile, MC Superintending Engineer, Rahul Gagneja could not be contacted for comments.