Sewerage digs choke trade hub

Ludhiana: A painfully slow sewage pipeline project has choked traffic and turned an arterial commercial road into a hazardous obstacle course, sparking demands for a quick intervention ahead of the monsoon.Shopkeepers and commuters along Noorwala Road in Ward 3 say the poorly managed infrastructure project has tanked local business, triggered health issues, and left the community plagued by dangerous, un-levelled trenches.The excavation work, which began in April along the stretch from Sartaj Nagar to the Radha Swami Satsang Ghar, followed a separate water supply pipeline project. Because municipal planners failed to coordinate the two initiatives, one entire side of the roadway remains blocked, triggering severe gridlock during peak commuting hours.“The authorities left massive heaps of loose, un-levelled soil,” said a local resident, noting that multiple motorists have lost control of their vehicles on the debris. “Worse, they dug deep pits for residential sewer connections and left them wide open. People are genuinely terrified that someone is going to fall inside.”For local business owners, the prolonged delay has evolved into an economic and health crisis. Billowing clouds of construction dust have caused widespread respiratory allergies among shop staff while driving away foot traffic. Business owners noted that schoolchildren and elderly residents face the highest risk navigating the choked, dusty thoroughfares.Area councillor Pallavi Vinayak condemned the project management, questioning why the excavation was even authorised. “This work was not even required here, yet municipal officials are allowing it to drag on at a snail’s pace,” Vinayak said. “We will give them a few more days to fix this, or we will launch public protests.”An official with the Ludhiana municipal corporation, speaking on the condition of anonymity, sought to deflect blame onto private builders, claiming the city had formally ordered the contractor to accelerate operations and finish the pipeline.