Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, November 15

For almost two years, the residents of Adampur had been consistently putting forth their demand that the condition of the service lanes along the Jalandhar-Hoshiapur under-construction flyover be improved. Their demand has finally got fulfilled just days ago as the roads were re-carpeted to ensure a smooth passage for Punjab CM Charanjit Singh Channi, who was to visit seven spots to lay the foundation stone.

A flyover is being constructed here by the PWD as a part of the four-laning of Jalandhar-Hoshiarpur road and the residents had been ruing that the work is going on at a snail’s pace and their lives have been badly affected as there is no proper road to visit the market areas on the main road. Even the daily commuters between the two districts had been feeling harassed passing through this town as they said their journey had become back-breaking and their vehicles were getting damaged.

On all those days when it rained, the condition used to be worse. The road would turn completely muddy and slippery and the commuters also would get their clothes soiled. Harinder Singh, a resident, said: “It is for the reason that the officials have ensure a good road for the VVIPs, we wish that they keep on coming in the town. We really do not know whether the works launched by him today would even get started but we surely will credit him for helping us provide the recarpeted main road in a matter of days.”

The residents accompanied by Adampur Akali MLA Pawan Tinu had even met Deputy Commissioner Ghanshyam Thori few months back seeking his intervention into the problem. Thori had then pulled up PWD officials asking them to look into the problem, ensure provision of proper service lanes and to speed up the flyover construction work. Even as the work started more than three years ago, many pillars of the flyover are yet to be raised.

There is a yet another issue that the residents are now confronting. Jasraj Singh, a resident, said a more serious problem was that their houses and shops abutting the main road were now on a much lower plinth level than the main highway. “The muddy rainwater gushes inside our houses and takes days to get drained. Our belongings too remain at a risk of being washed away or getting damaged due to standing water”, he said seeking that this grave problem too was required to be looked into.