Ludhiana, July 28
With Ludhiana Municipal Corporation collapsing under the weight of its own incompetence, the city today stands as a grim testimony to betrayal of public trust. What was once whispered as “failure” is now openly condemned as “institutionalized corruption”. Residents across all sections of society are unanimous: it is not inefficiency but deliberate plunder that has reduced Ludhiana to ruins.
Residents allege the corporation, long branded a “den of corruption”, has perfected the art of “siphoning off funds” while serving citizens substandard, half‑baked works. “Roads crumble within weeks, drains overflow like open sewers, and basic civic services remain paralyzed — all while officials fatten their pockets. The people are left abandoned, forced to live at God’s mercy, while those entrusted with governance mock accountability”, said the majority of residents while interacting with The News Gateway during a survey of dozens of city areas including Salem Tabri, Hamalpur Road, Giaspura, Model Town, Shastri Nagar, Pakhowal Road, Gill Road, Dashmesh Nagar and Dugri.
“This is not mere negligence. It is a systematic loot, a betrayal so deep that Ludhiana’s decay has become the most damning indictment of a civic body that thrives on corruption and survives only by crushing the very citizens it was meant to serve,” said Satwinder Kaur, a resident of Model Town Extension.
Speaking to residents has laid bare the complete collapse of Ludhiana Municipal Corporation’s most crucial wings — the Operation & Maintenance Cell. The department, meant to safeguard the city’s lifelines, has instead become a symbol of decay and alleged corruption.
The most damning indictment comes from the people themselves: “Why has LMC failed to find a permanent solution to the overflowing sewerage?” Entire localities remain submerged in filth, drains spewing back sewage into homes and residents of Model Town spend sleepless nights battling the stench and backflow.”
This is not a temporary glitch — it is a chronic disaster engineered by alleged corruption and negligence. Funds vanish, contractors thrive, and citizens drown in sewage. The overflowing drains and backflow nightmares are not just civic failures; they are proof of a system that has abandoned Ludhiana to rot.
“While the Bhagwant Mann government continues to boast that the AAP administration has “set everything right,” the ground reality in Ludhiana exposes this claim as a brazen falsehood. Residents, battered by overflowing drains and backflowing sewage, have demanded that the Chief Minister himself walk through the city’s inundated streets during the rains. Only then, they say, will he realise that lies too have a limit”, said former District Congress Committee, Ludhiana (Urban) president Pawan Dewan.
Meanwhile, the contrast is stark: on one hand, a government indulging in hollow propaganda; on the other, a city drowning in filth, its citizens abandoned to misery. The people’s demand is not just for accountability — it is a direct challenge to a regime that thrives on deception while Ludhiana rots.
“This is not governance. It is wilful betrayal, where corruption and neglect are masked with empty speeches. The residents’ voice is the most damning verdict yet: Ludhiana’s decay has shredded the government’s credibility, exposing its claims as nothing more than a cynical lie,” said former Senior Deputy Mayor Praveen Bansal.
Despite repeated attempts, Municipal Commissioner Ojaswi Alankar did not respond. However, a WhatsApp message seeking his version has been sent to his mobile.