To decongest Patiala city, Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh on Wednesday gave in-principle approval for the construction of a ring road around the city, connecting Sirhind Road, Bhadson Road, and leading up to Nabha road till Sangrur.

The Chief Minister asked the Principal Secretary PWD (B & R) to immediately take up various pending issues related to the Patiala ring road with the Union Road Transport and Highways Ministry to ensure its completion in a time-bound manner.

At a meeting with PWD officials, the Chief Minister also gave his nod for another ring road which would connect Sirhind road through the industrial zone. He sanctioned another small southern ring 200-inch wide in the south-east direction of Patiala city, connecting Rajpura road with alleviated southern bypass and Sanaur road, as per the master plan.

The Union Minister has already agreed to consider construction of ring roads around major cities including Sangrur, Bathinda, Jalandhar, Patiala, Mohali or Chandigarh and Ludhiana. The State Government has also given its consent to bear 50 percent cost on account of land acquisition. The entire cost of construction including 50 percent acquisition cost would be borne by the Union Ministry.

The Chief Minister underlined the importance of creating a network of ring roads around the major cities, saying that it was imperative to divert non-city traffic out of the city to ease vehicular congestion on inner city routes.

The concept of city ring roads was conceived in view of the future growth trends of urbanisation, economic growth, synchronization with planned development as per Master Plan, as well smooth and safe movement of city and  external traffic.

Notably, a committee at the District Level was constituted to suggest possible ring road alignments to the State Level Committee comprising ACS Revenue, ACS Housing, PSF and Secretary Public Works (B & R) for assessing land acquisition and project feasibility.