Hills join plains in road complaint

Kalimpong, Sept. 2: Transporters in the hills have threatened to join hands with their counterparts in the plains over the poor road condition.

The far-flung areas of Kalimpong subdivision bordering the Dooars, however, continue to be affected by the three-day bus strike in the plains.

The Janmukti Chalak Mahasangh, which is affiliated to the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha, said the condition of NH31A that links Kalimpong with Siliguri had become so bad that driving on it was fraught with danger.

“We want the authorities in charge of maintaining the highway to carry out immediate restoration work, failing which, we will be forced to call a transport strike,” said T.D. Bhutia, the president of the Mahasangh.

However, before taking a decision on the strike, the Mahasangh plans to meet Darjeeling MP Jaswant Singh, who is currently in the hills, and urge him to take up the matter with the Union transport ministry in Delhi so that the restoration is done on a war footing.

“We will seek Singh’s advice before going ahead with our plans,” said Bhutia.

Two different agencies are in charge of maintaining the highway. While the national highway division of the state PWD maintains the 22-km stretch (NH31) between Siliguri and the Coronation Bridge at Sevoke, the Border Roads Organisation looks after NH31A that runs from the bridge to Sikkim.

Both the agencies blame the monsoon for the delay in carrying out the road repair.

While rain-triggered landslides that occur regularly at different points along NH31A is a major contributory factor in damaging the road, the abysmal condition of the stretch between Siliguri and Sevoke is primarily because of negligence and shoddy restoration work, drivers allege.

“The major portion of the Siliguri-Sevoke stretch is in the plains, which means barring rains, there is no other adverse nature interference. But those looking after its maintenance are so callous that the road does not even last a rainy season after every repair,” said a driver.

In the Gorubathan block of the subdivision that borders the Dooars, the ongoing bus strike is beginning to hit the local people, especially schoolchildren from neighbouring Damdim and Malbazar, which are in Jalpaiguri district.

“Almost 40 per cent of our 2,000-odd students come from these areas. However, because of the bus strike, the overall attendance in our school has come down by as much as 30 per cent,” said Sanjay Ghisingh, a teacher of Judhabir Higher Secondary School in Gorubathan.

Villagers from the block, including places as far as Jholung, Jaldhaka and other villages bordering Bhutan, said the cost of travel had gone up for them as they were forced to take smaller vehicles to commute at more than double the fare.

“Our greatest fear is if the strike continues for longer period, the prices of essential commodities will start going up,” said Dal Bahadur Rai, a villager from the area.

Source: The Telegraph