Siliguri, March 20: You can fly to Bagdogra Airport from Calcutta in 50 minutes, but be prepared to spend roughly the same time on the 14km car ride from there to Siliguri town.

NH31, which passes close to Bagdogra and connects it to Siliguri, is in a very bad shape with heavy traffic making matters worse.

“It takes at least 40-45 minutes to reach Bagdogra from Darjeeling More, instead of the 20 minutes it took earlier, causing inconvenience to us and our clients who arrive at and depart from the airport everyday,” said Samrat Sanyal, who is associated with a tour operating company.

“Tourists heading for Darjeeling, Sikkim or the Dooars have to cover this stretch and they often complain about the horrible experience. We also get several reports of passengers missing their flights,” Sanyal added.

Kamal Mittal, the chairman of the north Bengal chapter of Confederation of Indian Industry and a frequent flyer, echoed Sanyal. “It is even worse during rush hour, when it takes around one hour to get to Bagdogra. In areas like Khaprail More, Sivamandir and Bagdogra, traffic jams are a regular phenomenon,” he said.

From Darjeeling More, Bagdogra is only 12km away (see map), but the stretch is full of potholes. Slow moving vehicles like vans, rickshawa and city autos plying in the area add to the plight of the commuters.

“Minor accidents have become quite frequent on this stretch,” said Bikram Singh, a shop-owner in Bagdogra. “The dust from the road settles in our shops and increases pollution in the area.”

The daily commuters include teachers and students of North Bengal University, which is on way to Bagdogra.

“The varsity is only 8km from Siliguri, but it takes around 30 minutes to cover the distance. In at least three crossings on the stretch, there are regular traffic jams,” said Subir Sarkar, a professor in the geography department.

The minister of state for PWD, Manohar Tirkey, said the responsibility of maintaining the road has changed hands from one government department to another and that is why there has been a delay in repair and widening.

“Earlier, the road was with the National Highways Authority of India and we thought it would be automatically widened when work on the East-West Corridor started. The four-lane expressway was slated to pass through Darjeeling More and Sevoke,” said Tirkey. “But the alignment of the corridor was changed: now it will turn towards Jalpaiguri, a few kilometres west of Bagdogra. This stretch of NH31 is to be looked after by the Union surface transport ministry’s national highways department.”

Tirkey said on a recent visit to Delhi he was assured that the road would be widened to four lanes up to Sevoke with the PWD executing the project. “We expect to finish at least the repairs before the rainy season.”