The Ludhiana fire department has requested land for a third emergency station near the Jalandhar Bypass, even as two previously approved stations remain on the drawing board. The request for a station in the Ludhiana North assembly constituency underscores growing urgency within emergency services to reduce response times to the city's expanding industrial sectors, despite a stalled multi-station expansion plan.
Stalled Stations in West and South Constituencies
The two initial stations, proposed for the West and South constituencies, have failed to progress due to months of administrative failures. In the West constituency, municipal officials yielded to political pressure to issue tenders before securing a physical site. A potential location in BRS Nagar was abandoned after the Enforcement Directorate arrested Punjab minister Sanjeev Arora in a money laundering probe, halting all local administrative decisions. As a result, the single station on Hambran Road remains dangerously overstretched, serving as the sole emergency responder for the entire western sector.
Sluggish Progress in Dhandhari Industrial Cluster
Progress has been equally slow in the South constituency's Dhandhari industrial cluster. Although the civic body finally secured a contractor after multiple failed tendering rounds, the project cannot move forward without final rate approval from the finance and contracts committee.
Assistant Divisional Fire Officer Jaswinder Singh acknowledged the ongoing infrastructure delays but defended the department's forward planning. He stated that they remain in active discussions with municipal representatives to clear land for the new locations while streamlining the bottlenecked Dhandhari site.
