04062023-LT-01.qxd 6/4/2023 12:22 AM Page 1 c m y b Ludhiana tribune CIVIC BODY CRACKS THE WHIP, REMOVES 60 ENCROACHMENTS KARAN GROVER APPRECIATES ‘ANGEL’ WIFE BIPASHA BASU ACTRESS RANI MUKERJI BAGS INTERNATIONAL ICONIC AWARD MC carries out anti-encroachment drive on Ghora Factory road and in the Sherpur area of city. P2 Star couple Bipasha Basu and Karan Singh Grover’s Instagram feed is flooded with love-filled pictures. P3 Actress Rani Mukerji will be felicitated at the International Iconic Awards, which will be held on June 8. P4 » » FORECAST PARTLY CLOUDY MAX 37°C | MIN 24°C YESTERDAY MAX 35°C | MIN 22°C SUNSET SUNDAY 7.26 PM SUNRISE MONDAY 5.23 AM » SUNDAY | 4 JUNE 2023 | LUDHIANA Decks cleared for ~2,462-crore Ludhiana-Bathinda expressway Land made available for 45.24-km stretch of greenfield highway Nitin Jain Tribune News Service Ludhiana, June 3 Decks have been cleared for another major highway and expressway project in Ludhiana district, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has confirmed. The land acquisition for the Ludhiana-Bathinda expressway, which involves the total capital cost of Rs 2,461.64 crore, including Rs 906.51 crore for the first component and Rs 1,555.13 crore for the second part, has been completed, officials have said. The development assumes significance as it took over 18 months since the award of the greenfield highway to make the land available for the construction of the NHAI project. Rajya Sabha MP from Ludhiana, Sanjeev Arora, told The Tribune, here on Saturday that a total of 323.52 hectares of land, which was required to build the 45.24-km stretch of the expressway in the jurisdiction of Ludhiana district, has been acquired and handed over to the NHAI. Arora, who reviewed the progress of the project, disclosed that the total award amount of Rs 544.36 crore had been deposited and disbursed to landowners. He said the construction work on the first package of the project would begin by August 31 to be completed by August 31, 2025, while the second component’s construction work would take off by June 30 to be finished by June 30, 2025. The 45.24-km stretch in Ludhiana district entails the civil cost of Rs 981 crore and land acquisition expenditure of Rs 544.36 crore, taking the total RS MP Sanjeev Arora chairs a meeting to review the expressway project in Ludhiana. TRIBUNE PHOTO PROJECT REPORT ~2,461.64 cr Total cost 75.543-km Total length Lanes: 6 ROW: 60m Current status: Work allotted, land acquisition completed Total land requirement: 525.19 hectares Deadline: Package 1: August 31, 2025, Package 2: June 30, 2025 Owner: NHAI Model: HAM OFFICIALS TOLD TO ENSURE EARLY COMPLETION ❝ I have instructed the NHAI officials concerned to begin the construction of the highway and ensure the completion at the earliest, as per specifications and quality control measures. It will give a major reprieve to inter-state and inter-city travellers.” – Sanjeev Arora, RS MP capital cost to Rs 1,555.13 crore. While the Package 1 of the 30.3-km-long greenfield expressway to build six-lane access controlled highway will start from the junction with the Amritsar-Bathinda greenfield road (NH-754A) near Rampura Phul to the junction with the Moga-Barnala road (NH-703) near Tallewal village on the NH-754-AD falling in Bathinda, Moga and Barnala districts, the Package 2 comprising 45.24-km stretch will take off from the junction with the Moga-Barnala road (NH703) near Tallewal village to the junction with the DelhiKatra expressway (NE-5) near Ballowal village in Ludhiana on the NH-754-AD. The six-lane access-controlled highway will connect Ballowal village on the DelhiAmritsar expressway with Rampura Phul on the Amritsar-Bathinda expressway. Once constructed, the drive from Ludhiana to Bathinda will become smoother and faster as the project entails six-laning of the 75.543-kmlong national highway 754-AD at the cost of Rs 1,716.17 crore. The part of the Ludhiana- Tribune News Service Ajmer economic corridor (EC-8) was scheduled to be completed within 24 months under the Bharatmala Pariyojana, Phase I. The widening and strengthening of the highway had been taken up by the NHAI in two parts under the hybrid annuity model (HAM) mode. The first component of the NH-754-AD will comprise 30.3km while the second part will run into a 45.243-km stretch. The total civil cost of the project has been estimated at 1,639 crore, including Rs 658 crore for the first part and Rs 981 crore for the second component, while Rs 754.71 crore was earmarked for the land acquisition, which included Rs 210.35 crore for Package 1 and Rs 544.36 crore for Package 2. The total capital cost of the expressway was estimated at Rs 2,461.64 crore, including Rs 906.51 crore, for the first component and Rs 1,555.13 crore for the second part. The new Ludhiana-Bathinda expressway will pass through 36 villages falling in three districts of Ludhiana under Ludhiana and Raikot tehsils, Barnala under Barnala and Tapa tehsils, and Rampura Phul tehsil in Bathinda district. Woman ends life; husband, in-laws booked ASHWANI DHIMAN Tribune News Service Over 15 passengers sustained minor injuries in the mishap. ling from Ferozepur to Patiala. When they were moving ahead after dropping passengers at Gate Number 2 of the PAU in Ludhiana, a loud noise was heard from the bus. Initially, they thought a tyre got burst but later, it was found that the axle had broken. due to which the driver lost control over the vehicle and it rammed into a pillar. The bus driver would undergo a medical examination to check if he was under the influence of any drug during the incident, the police said. Ludhiana, June 3 A woman died by suicide by consuming some poisonous substance at New Subhash Nagar here. She allegedly took the extreme step as her husband, who is a drug addict, and other family members used to torture her. The deceased has been identified as Minakshi (37). On the complaint of the deceased’s kin, a case of dowry death was registered against Bittu Verma, husband of the deceased, her motherin-law Ram Murti and brother-in-law Raman on Friday. Complainant Ashok Kumar of New Karamsar Colony told continued on page 2 Policeman caught taking ~1,500 bribe Tribune News Service Ludhiana, June 3 Huge drama witnessed at Halwara on Friday night when ASI Gurmeet Singh accepted a bribe of Rs 1,500 from a resident for returning his auto-rickshaw lying at the Sudhar police station. Local residents had already laid a trap as they knew that the ASI would come to collect the bribe Tribune News Service Ludhiana, June 3 Three persons carrying sharp weapons took away a Maruti Brezza vehicle from a student at the tuition market in Model Town here on Saturday morning. CCTV cameras installed in the market had reportedly captured the suspects who were not wearing mask and the police launched a probe TRIO CAPTURED ON CCTV CAMERAS CCTV cameras installed at the tuition market in Model Town had reportedly captured the suspects who were not wearing mask and the police launched a probe in the matter. in the matter. A case against the unidentified miscreants was registered by the police. ADCP Sameer Verma said the incident occurred at 7 am. Jaswant Singh of Mansura village, near Jagraon, along with two friends, came to attend an IELTS class. When they reached the tuition market, two of his friends went to attend the class but Jaswant kept sitting in the vehicle as his class was yet to start. Three persons reached the scene and pointed BJP leader’s house theft case cracked Tribune News Service Bus rams into pillar near PAU Ludhiana, June 3 A Punjab Roadways bus rammed into a pillar on the elevated stretch of the Ferozepur road opposite Gate No 1 of Punjab Agricultural University (PAU). Some passengers alleged that the PUNBUS driver was driving at a high speed, due to which he lost control over the vehicle and it hit a pillar. However, he claimed that he was driving at a normal speed but some technical snag in the bus caused the accident. As per information, there were 70 passengers on the bus, of which 15-20 sustained minor injuries. The driver also sustained an injury on the thigh. Bus conductor Jaspal Singh said they were travel- 3 miscreants take away SUV from youth Residents corner official, later call cops to the scene money. When the policeman accepted the bribe, they cornered him and called police officials to the spot. The residents had kept photo copies of the currency notes which they had given to the ASI as bribe. Later, the Ludhiana rural police initiated disciplinary action against the policeman. Activists, led by Sukhwinder Singh, also went live on Facebook. While the activists were making the video, the police official was allegedly saying that he did a mistake by accepting the bribe and he felt sorry for the same. However, the residents were not in a mood to for- give the ASI and they sat on a dharna to seek action against him. When the SHO, Sudhar, assured action against the ASI, they lifted the dharna. Notably, the people had also snatched the key of the policeman’s car to ensure that the latter should not leave the place. The video of the incident had also gone viral on social media on Saturday. c m y b Ludhiana, June 3 The Ludhiana police today claimed to have cracked a theft case reported at the house of BJP leader Jiwan Gupta with the arrest of a man and recovery of stolen valuables. The suspect has been identified as Ramesh Kumar (30), a native of Bihar, at present residing in Sahnewal. ADCP Sameer Verma, ACP Jasroop and SHO Neeraj Chaudhary addressed a press conference in this regard. Verma said in the wee hours of May 29, an unidentified person entered the house of the BJP leader and decamped with a laptop, two mobile phones and some other valuables. After the police started The suspect in custody of the Ludhiana police on Saturday. a probe, the suspect was identified and arrested. The police have recovered nine mobile phones, a laptop and a stolen motorcycle from him. The suspect also has a criminal past as eight criminal cases had already been registered against him at different police stations and in three of them, he had been declared a proclaimed offender (PO) by the court, the ADCP said. Now, a police remand of the suspect would be sought from court to inquire about his involvement in other theft incidents reported in the industrial hub in the past. His other accomplices, if any, would also be nabbed, he added. sharp weapons at Jaswant. When he tried to oppose their move, they pushed him out of the SUV and escaped in it, he said. The police got the CCTV footage and on the basis of the same, efforts were on to trace the suspects. Meanwhile, the victim told the police that he had no enmity with the miscreants and it seemed that he became their random target. Make cycling part of daily routine, residents urged Ludhiana, June 3 On the occasion of ‘World Bicycle Day’, the civic body appealed to residents to make cycling a part of their daily routine for better health. MC officials said the civic body has established cycle tracks of over 5-km length in various parts of the city. WORLD BICYCLE DAY These include a one-kilometre cycle track established under the Sidhwan canal waterfront project (phase 1) in Sarabha Nagar and a 1.1km cycle track established continued on page 2