Year on, work still not done in Gole market roads, park

Ludhiana: The long-wait of the visitors and shopkeepers in the Model Town’s Gole Market for the construction of roads here is expected to further be delayed by March, if the work isn’t completed by the time the cold kicks in. Reportedly, the roads can only be constructed once the park there gets renovated, but that too has been delayed for over a year, now.
The renovation of the park was kicked off last year in December and the work was then supposed to be completed within three months. But even after a year, only the boundary wall of the park has been constructed, apart from installation of tiles.
A shopkeeper in the market, Arvind Sharma said, “The work is stopped and if the roads will not be constructed in next 10 days, then it won’t be done before March 2023 because of the cold weather. Above all, the major issue is of public toilets which are kept locked by the MC, as these were removed from the park for renovation work.” He said he had taken up the issue with the authorities, but it did not provide any relief.
A visitor to the market, Jyoti Sharma said, “The roads need urgent repair as these are in quite poor condition. If the park’s work is stopped due to some reason, then at least the roads should be renovated. We can avoid going to the park, but everyone has to use the roads.” She added authorities should pay attention to it and get the roads constructed.
Inter-party tussle to be blamed?
In this park, a 25-feet-high replica of the clock tower was also supposed to be installed. The sources however revealed that a tussle has been going on between the Congress councillor Parvinder Lapran and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA Kulwant Sidhu over this replica, leading to the delay in completion of the works.
When contacted, Lapran said, “I have asked the officials to get the work completed as soon as possible as it would be a great thing to see in the market, but the officials are delaying it for reasons known only to them.”
He added he will stage a protest in the next few days if officials did not start the work again.
The Ludhiana Improvement Trust (LIT) is constructing the roads as well as renovating the park for the municipal corporation (MC).
The superintending engineer of Ludhiana Improvement Trust (LIT) Satbhushan Sachdeva said, “I have just taken the charge here, but I am aware of this work as it was started during my previous tenure, here. From Monday onwards, I would be checking things in detail and get the reasons for delay. We will get the works done as soon as possible.”