Despite protests by Senior Deputy Mayor Parveen Bansal and Deputy Mayor Sunita Aggarwal, Ludhiana is set to see fancy lights worth Rs 6 crore lighting its roads. Orders for these have been placed and the work is likely to start in a few days.

While the Finance and Contract Committee (F&CC) of the Ludhiana Municipal Corporation is yet to send a formal proposal to the government, Shiromani Akali Dal leaders claimed that the fancy lights would be in place before the Lok Sabha elections.

Bansal and Aggarwal had voted against the project, saying it would be nothing but a waste of money.

“Work will start before the code of conduct is implemented. The rest of the formalities are complete,” said Finance and Contract Committee member Simarjit Singh Bains. He added: “The skyline of the city will change after this. New lights will be seen on Ferozepur Road, Jagraon Bridge, Vishivkarma Chowk, Samrala Chowk and Chandigarh Road among others.”

The proposal will be tabled at the F&CC meeting on Friday. The meeting was supposed to be held on Thursday, but with most of its core members away to greet Sukhbir Badal on becoming the deputy chief minister it was postponed to Friday.

In another project, the Gill Flyover will be extended till Partap Chowk with an additional expenditure of Rs 16 crore, increasing the total length of the bridge to 900 metres. According to the proposal, the flyover will meet with the road near Basant Park at a height of one metre and its height will be increased once again to take it till Partap Chowk.

The F&CC is yet to decide if the work is to be given to the same contractor or to a new one, but only after the state government gives its nod to the project.