LUDHIANA: The Ludhiana Improvement Trust (LIT) is experiencing a significant slowdown in urban development, having not introduced an affordable housing scheme for residents in nearly two decades.
Once the leading force behind Ludhiana’s residential projects, the trust has now shifted its attention to small-scale developments under municipal jurisdiction. With the Atal Apartment project, delayed for years, expected to wrap up by December 2026, officials caution that LIT may soon be left with no active projects. This lack of government-supported options is pushing residents toward expensive private developers or illegal colonies.
Two Decades of Inaction
The glory days of LIT’s planning efforts are now just a memory. The trust had a successful record, approving 31 projects from 1961 to 2006, but that momentum has dissipated. The last significant initiative, the Sukhdev Enclave on Hambran Road, was initiated in 2006 but never fully realized. Prior to that, the Atal Apartment Scheme was approved in 2000. It has taken 25 years to make progress on these apartments in Karnail Singh Nagar.
In a sign of its diminished role, LIT recently transferred the maintenance responsibilities of five major colonies to the Municipal Corporation.
Failed Expansion and ‘Buried Files’
Attempts to revitalize development efforts have repeatedly hit roadblocks. A proposed plan for the Lohara area, which aimed to leverage a land-pooling policy with local farmers, stalled during negotiations. Despite initial enthusiasm from landowners, the project is now “buried in files”. LIT’s chairman, Tarsem Bhinder, admitted the challenges in innovating. “We attempted to formulate a new plan, but it was not very successful,” Bhinder stated, adding that the trust plans to pursue new projects only after the Atal Apartment project is completed.
