Thousands of people living in and around Siliguri and also those reaching the city on different errands had to bear the brunt of severe traffic congestion on Thursday because vehicular movement was reversed as the bridge over the Balason river remained closed for the second day.
On Wednesday, the Siliguri Metropolitan Police had halted traffic movement (barring two-wheelers) through the bridge after one of its pillars tilted with the force of the swollen river and a portion of the bridge’s plank subsided.
In Siliguri, vehicles heading to Bagdogra, other parts of Siliguri sub-division or southern parts of the state (towards North Dinajpur district and beyond), move through the north end of the city, and vice-versa. Passenger vehicles bound for districts located in the north of Siliguri (Alipurduar, Cooch Behar and Jalpaiguri) and northeastern states, also take this route.
However, since Wednesday, the movement of these vehicles has been reversed. They are now moving out of the city through its southern end (Naukaghat More) to reach Bagdogra or other places. Also, vehicles entering the city from these places are returning through the same route as they cannot cross the Balason bridge.
“These vehicles are taking Burdwan Road where a flyover is under construction. This is leading to severe traffic congestion, while Darjeeling More (the principal entry point to Siliguri in the north) area is almost vacant. It is taking almost an hour extra to reach Bagdogra airport which otherwise is a 30-minute ride from the city. We don’t know when the Balason bridge would be reopened, at least for light vehicles,” said Dibyendu Saha, an IT professional who commutes daily between Shivmandir and Siliguri.
The vehicular load on Burdwan Road, which connects to Asian Highway II, has also led to traffic congestion in some parallel roads, which include the Hill Cart Road, Sevoke Road, Bidhan Road, the DBRCD flyover, as many light vehicles are taking these routes to reach the airport and other locations.
Meanwhile, a three-member team from the state public works department and Union ministry of road transport and highways visited the bridge over Balason river. They then held a meeting with government engineers and officials of the district administration.
“The team comprised officials from the central ministry and an official from the design and planning section of the NH division of state PWD. They reached here from Calcutta, went to the site and inspected the damaged pillar as well as the entire structure of the bridge,” said a PWD official.
The team members also collected information about the intensity of traffic movement through the 50-year-old bridge, sources said.
“It is good that the water level of Balason has receded as there has been no fresh rainfall since Wednesday evening. Even then, we are keeping a watch on the banks,” said Shribas Biswas, the block development officer of Matigara.
Gautam Deb, chairman of the board of administrators of Siliguri Municipal Corporation, held a meeting with officials of the sub-divisional administration, the police and different state departments.
“We took stock of the situation. The bridges and culverts located in the civic area have not been affected by the rain. I have asked officials of the state PWD to check the condition of the bridge over the Mahananda river which is on NH31,” Deb said.
