Waterfront nears completion, residents stroll along the canal in Ludhiana

LUDHIANA: While the work at phase-II of Sidhwan Water Front is yet to be completed, the city residents have already started going on morning and evening walks along the waterfront.
The Sidhwan water front project was notably started by the previous government in the backdrop of The Times of India’s ‘Let’s Save Sidhwan’ campaign.
While scenic beauty is a given, taking a stroll in fresh breeze along the canal is also a wonderful respite from the pollution of the industrial city.
A resident of Model Town, Rajinder Singh said that he has been coming to walk at the waterfront almost daily, and calls it “a great experience to be able to walk in the company of mother nature alongside the canal”.
However, he complained that cleanliness is not being maintained here yet, and urged the civic body to look after that.
Another visitor, Harpal Singh said that though it was great that a waterfront was being made here, but said it should have been done way back. But he’s hopeful the project would receive a good response.
The second phase of the project, being undertaken as part of the Smart City Mission, includes about 1.5km-long stretch along both the sides of the canal between Jawaddi Bridge and Dugri Bridge.
Ludhiana municipal corporation (MC) commissioner Dr Shena Aggarwal said that the work to establish the phase-II of waterfront along the Sidhwan Canal has almost been completed, and the project would be formally inaugurated very soon.
MC officials informed that apart from the phase-II being developed at a cost of Rs 5.07 crore, the leisure valley along the canal between Dugri canal bridge and Dhuri railway crossing is being constructed for an additional Rs 3.14 crore.
While the waterfront will have walking and cycling tracks, the leisure valley won’t have cycling tracks as the space alongside the canal on this stretch is quite narrow.