Asok Bhattacharya

Siliguri, Feb. 10: Bengal urban development and municipal affairs minister Asok Bhattacharya said his department was keen on taking up a slew of measures aimed at addressing the increasing traffic congestion in the town.

Bhattacharya said the government would soon start work on a flyover from Court More to Hill Cart road. Tender had been floated, work order given and even Rs 8 crore sanctioned for the flyover, only to be cancelled after some people had voiced concern that the construction, which may stretch into two years, would cause immense traffic congestion in a part of the town where collectorate, court and head post office were located, the minister said.

“Keeping that in mind, we have decided to change the alignment of the proposed flyover, which will now pass through the land owned by the public works department,” the minister said. “We will shift the inspection bungalow and other official establishments to another place at our cost.”

The proposals were discussed at a citizens’ convention organised by the Siliguri Municipal Corporation yesterday. “Other than the fourth bridge over the Mahananda, the work on which will start very soon, we are planning one more over the river. This bridge will be between the first and second bridges to link Bagha Jatin Colony to Mahakal Pally,” Bhattacharya said. This bridge will be assigned for light vehicles, rickshaws and two-wheelers, and ease traffic on Hill Cart Road,” the minister said.

Two railway underpasses will also be built at Dangipara and Siliguri Junction to facilitate the traffic movement, he said.

Bhattacharya said the Mahabirsthan flyover was being utilised only 60 per cent. He added that the Deshbandhupara Main Road and others in the town would be broadened so that buses could travel fast to New Jalpaiguri.

The minister today laid the foundation stone of a bridge over the Jorapani, a tributary of the Mahananda.

“The bridge will connect Fulbari, one of the fast developing areas on the outskirts of Siliguri, to New Jalpaiguri and the Dabgram Industrial Centre,” Bhattacharya said.