The Centre has handed over the NH110 that connects Darjeeling with Siliguri to a central agency from the state PWD.

The responsibility to maintain and repair the hill road has been handed over to the National Highway & Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (NHIDCL).

“In exercise of powers conferred by section 5 of the National Highway At, 1956 (48 of 1956), the Central Government hereby directs that the National Highway & Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited shall exercise the function relating to the development and maintenance of the stretch...,” a notification issued by the ministry of road, transport and highways (MORTH) states.

The maintenance and repair of the 77km highway was so far the onus of the Bengal PWD (highway division).

In December 2024, a 52km stretch of the NH10 that links Siliguri and Sikkim was handed over to the NHIDCL from Bengal’s PWD. The NHIDCL is a fully owned company of the Union ministry of road transport and highways.

“I extend my heartfelt gratitude to the ministry of road transport and highways for ordering the transfer of NH110 (formerly NH55) connecting Darjeeling to Siliguri via Kurseong to NHIDCL following my request on February 12, 2025,” Darjeeling BJP MP Raju Bista said.

The Darjeeling MP in a letter to Nitin Gadkari, minister of MORTH, had alleged that the NH Division of Bengal’s PWD “absolutely failed to maintain and upkeep the highway, which has caused massive harassment to the locals, decrease in tourists inflow, reduction in trade and increase in tragic jam and pollution.”

The NHIDCL has started repairs along the Gangtok-Siliguri (NH10) highway.

According to the NHIDCL, the stretch will be intermittently closed for all types of vehicles at various time slots between May 9 and 11 and between May 13 and 15. The 52.1 km stretch of NH10 between Sevoke and Rangpo will be closed to traffic from 5am to 7am, 8am to 10am, 11am to 1pm, 2pm to 4pm and 5pm to 7pm, the NHIDCL
notification said.