Siliguri, Sept. 13: The stripped-of-tar and dusty Ghoshpukur-Fulbari bypass to Siliguri, which trucks avoid and instead clog roads inside the town, has led to a toll loss of around Rs 2 lakh a day for the Siliguri Jalpaiguri Development Authority, tasked with maintaining the road.

The total collection of the Rs 100 toll for trucks used to be around Rs 2.5 lakh a day. But in the last two months, the number of trucks crossing the toll plazas in Ghoshpukur and Fulbari has plummeted to 500 from 2,500 a day, an employee at the toll booth in Fulbarisaid.

A loss of Rs 2 lakh a day would mean a cumulative loss of around Rs 60 lakh each month in toll collection.

"When the bypass road was in good condition, around 2,500-odd trucks and other vehicles used to pass through the route and would pay the toll here. The average daily collection in those days was around Rs 2.50 lakh. However, the income has started declining over past five-six months and since last month, it has dropped to around Rs 50,000 a day as only 500-odd trucks take the bypass," one of the employees posted at the plaza said.

The trucks, which move to Jalpaiguri and Cooch Behar and to the Northeast, now take a longer road through Siliguri town.

The Ghoshpukur-Fulbari bypass was made so that Siliguri could be kept free of heavy vehicle congestion.

However, between 9pm and 6am - when trucks are allowed to enter the own - all the heavy vehicles take a 13km longer detour through Hill Cart Road and Burdwan Road and go to Jalpaiguri and the Northeast.

In most places, the 20km bypass has no surface tar. The road is full of potholes and truckers refuse to take it fearing damage to their vehicles.

"Due to restrictions on the movement of heavy vehicles through Siliguri in the day hours, some trucks take the bypass. But as the night falls and the restriction hours, hardly any truck takes the bypass," the toll employee said.

Ahsan Khan, a lorry driver from Andhra Pradesh, said the roads "are much better in our state and even good in Assam and Odisha. This bypass is in such a bad condition I never choose to take this route. For past three-four months, whenever I come to this area, I move through Siliguri. This detour means additional fuel costs but I still prefer not to take the bypass as both the truck and the goods are going to be damaged."

Officials of SJDA, who had told The Telegraph on last Thursday that repairs to the bypass would be taken up by the north Bengal development department soon, said repair had been done earlier but after one-and-a-half years, the road got damaged.

A senior official in the SJDA said: "We thought of engaging a specialised agency to study the bypass and prepare a detailed project report so that the road can sustain the load of heavy vehicles for a long time. Accordingly, RITES, a prominent consulting agency of the country, was engaged about four-five months back. It has prepared the DPR with an estimation of Rs 48 crore."

Sources in the SJDA, however, conceded that if the body had taken up repair work earlier, the road's condition would not have deteriorated.