The Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF) has intensified its demand to stop the collection of toll tax along the popular Rohini Road that connects Siliguri with Darjeeling.

The demand gathered steam after the BJP government in the state issued an order on May 12 for the closure of all “illegal” toll tax collection centres.

The road has been named after GNLF founder Subash Ghisingh. Ghisingh, who had headed the erstwhile Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council (DGHC) from 1988 to 2008, had built the road that now serves as a major route connecting Siliguri with the Darjeeling hills, replacing NH110.

“We believe that collecting toll on a road that was built by and later named after our leader, Subash Ghisingh, is unethical. He had built the road for the convenience of the common people,” said a GNLF leader.

The GTA had renamed Rohini Road as Subash Ghisingh Marg in 2018.

The GNLF had stopped workers at the Rohini toll tax plaza from collecting amounts on May 7 for a brief period. The collection, however, resumed soon after.

“We had written to the district magistrate, GTA tourism department, SDO Kurseong and IC Kurseong on this issue on May 7. We are once again raising this issue following the state government’s recent notification,” said a GNF leader.

The notification issued by the office of the chief secretary states that all toll gates, drop gates, barricaded structures and operational collection points from which vehicular traffic is operating but “which have not been duly approved/authorised by the competent authority of the Government of West Bengal, shall be closed with immediate effect”.

Sources in the GTA, however, said the Rohini toll plaza was not illegal and had been duly authorised.

“Collection of toll tax at Rohini started in 2014 and the GTA used to get an annual amount of ₹40 lakh (from the private vendor),” said a GTA source.

However, in 2023, the GTA revised the rate following a ground survey. “We conducted an actual survey on the number of vehicles passing through the toll gate and then set up a base price of ₹1.26 crore per annum while floating the tender,” said a source.

A private party, however, bid for ₹1.91 crore per annum to bag the contract.

“Since 2024, we have been receiving ₹1.91 crore as decided through a proper tender,” the source added. “Hence, it is not an illegal collection.”

BJP at GTA

Palden Tamang, an Independent GTA Sabha member from Kalimpong, who had supported the BJP in the recent Bengal Assembly elections, joined the party on Wednesday. He is the BJP’s first member at the GTA Sabha, though the party has demanded that the hill body be scrapped.