Illumination project still on drawing board

The most-ambitious plan of UT administration to give an aesthetic look to the main entry points to the city at Zirakpur, Panchkula and Maloya point near Mohali is yet to seen the light of the day even two years after it ws first proposed. All these entry points were to be illuminated at night to welcome incoming visitors. The illumination plan was part of a broader project to promote night tourism in the city.
But sadly, this much-awaited beautification of significant entry points of the city got lost midway due to reported delay in preparing drawings for the proposed plan sites and lack of central funds to kickstart the much-hyped project.In the absence of beautification and illumination of city's these entry points, commuters traveling to the city get a misleading impression about the city, especially during night hours as there is nothing visible to announce UT boundary.
Initially, this move was proposed by the former UT tourism director and home secretary to create elaborate green covers and night illumination at these points to attract incoming visitors so that they could enter the city with a pleasant frame of mind. Behind that, there was a hidden concept of promoting tourism in the city potential.
Even as the entry-point to the city near housing board chowk in Panchkula has been cleaned and roads are fine there, absence of any city-related symbol signifying the city's main historic features leaves a bad taste with visitors coming from Himachal and Uttarakhand. The third entry point near Maloya — coming from Mohali side — has been marred by the crowded weekend auto-market. The place is littered with piles of automobile dust, giving the place a look of a rural set-up ahead.
When contacted, UT chief engineer SK Jaitley admitted that the beautification plans for city's prime entry-points could not be started at time. “The UT's architecture department has still to provide us with the concerned site drawings to start work. We still have to decide on the night illumination project to be awarded to a deserving party who could start the work at the earliest," said Jaitley.
Even as the existing entry points are crying for care, UT administration has ambitious plans to lay more roads to connect the city to adjoining areas.