Ludhiana, June 13: Punjab Minister Harjot Singh Bains conducted an early morning surprise inspection of Ludhiana’s civic areas, setting a strict June 30 deadline for the municipal corporation to eliminate all potholes and missing manhole covers across the city. The three-hour field evaluation, organized under the state’s provincial cleanliness initiative, concluded with an executive mandate requiring all municipal administrative officials to monitor ground-level operations daily between 7 a.m. and 8 a.m.
The minister addressed immediate environmental concerns along transit corridors managed by the National Highways Authority of India, expressing dissatisfaction with roadside garbage and stagnant water accumulation.
Mr. Bains noted that the municipal corporation will directly assume responsibility for clearing these highway segments if the federal road agency fails to maintain them.
“If the NHAI does not clean the road, the municipal corporation will do it and bill them,” the minister stated, adding that financial penalties would be issued for continued non-performance.
The minister noted that the administration has authorized infrastructure upgrades valued at 172 crore rupees to systematically restore the city’s roadway network. In preparation for the upcoming monsoon season, the local government directed that all ongoing drainage and sewer desilting works be finalized by the end of the month. Departmental representatives informed the minister that nearly half of the high-priority sewer lines have already been successfully cleared, with the remaining sections scheduled for completion before the deadline.
To manage public safety during heavy rains, the municipal corporation received orders to establish a round-the-clock emergency operations center to coordinate responses to localized flooding and drainage blockages in real time. The department also outlined additional urban beautification tasks, instructing municipal teams to repair malfunctioning streetlights, restore inactive tubewells, and deploy modern waste compactors at designated collection points across the city.
