Journalism of Courage
Claiming that the bridge has been completed and the SAD-BJP government is deliberately delaying the inauguration, the district Congress workers, led by president (urban) Gurpreet Gogi, performed a mock inauguration of the Lakkar bridge on Tuesday.
However, the move was criticised as it came when the final touches were being given to the bridge. The Congress workers vandalised the barricade installed and forcibly entered the bridge to inaugurate it.
Gogi claimed that he performed all rituals like breaking a coconut and visiting temple and gurdwara while inaugurating the bridge on the festival of Baisakhi.
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Terming it completely ‘illegal’, Mayor Harcharan Singh Gohalwaria said that the “Congress did a drama to gain publicity which was cheap as well as illegal”.
“The work on the bridge is still going on. As per engineers from Public Works Department and B&R (building and roads), the final touches are being given and some work on roads is also pending. Will Congress take responsibility if an accident happens? How can we declare the bridge open for traffic when engineers are still working on finishing touches. What Congress did today was immature, cheap and illegal,” Gohalwaria told Ludhiana Newsline.
He added that “the bridge will be opened for traffic by April 20 after consent from engineers”.
“If we know how to build bridges, we also know how and when to inaugurate them for public. During five years of Congress regime in Ludhiana MC, not a single brick moved and the bridge has been incomplete for 18 years. SAD-BJP government has completed the bridge and we will inaugurate it at the right time,” the mayor said.
Gogi, however, claimed, “The bridge is complete and SAD-BJP government is not inaugurating it deliberately. Even when Lodhi Club underpass was completed a few months back, it was after an ultimatum of MP Ravneet Singh Bittu that they opened it for public.”
