The Dhulagarh Truck Terminal lies idle even as goods-laden trucks remain parked on highways and enter the city at all hours. Pictures by Anup Bhattacharya

Two truck terminals in Howrah are now on the verge of closure as they remain empty for most of the time, with very few truckers choosing to park their vehicles there and availing the facilities being offered. The truck terminals were built to allow trucks from other states to enter West Bengal and remain parked in the terminals, located on the outskirts of the city, till ten at night after which they were allowed to enter the city areas. However, now, truck drivers rampantly bribe policemen and earn the right to enter the city at any time of the day and park their vehicles on the highways, in front of their favourite dhabas.

“The state government told us that trucks and other commercial vehicles would not be allowed to enter Calcutta from 8am to 10pm and commercial vehicles would not be allowed to park on the highways. But barring a few hours in the morning and in the evening, trucks regularly enter the city all day long. The Dhulagarh truck terminal remains virtually empty all over the year,” said Ram Ratan Choudhury, chairman, Calcutta Mumbai Truck Terminal Ltd (CMTTL) that set up the Dhulagarh Logistics on 42.30 acres of land, off NH6 in collaboration with West Bengal Transport Infrastructure Development Ltd (WBTIDL) in 2002. Apart from parking space for 1,000 trucks, there are facilities like warehouses for storing goods, loading and unloading, weighbridges, rest rooms for drivers and cleaners, entertainment hall, restaurants and other things.

Trucks entering Calcutta at 1.30 pm

The Howrah Truck Terminal was inaugurated by the then chief minister of West Bengal, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, in June 2003 on open land without any infrastructure. The truck terminal project was implemented by the Calcutta Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA) under Kolkata Megacity project on 71 acres of land off Kona Expressway. Though the former chief minister declared there would be facilities like warehousing, loading-unloading, restaurants and rest rooms for truck drivers and cleaners and also land for transporters to set up offices, there was nothing. The transporters, also did not open any office inside the terminal. After two years of its inauguration, in 2005, the truck terminal was sold off to Unitech that built several warehouses and a housing project on the land.

Cattle abound at the Dhulagarh Truck Terminal

The truck terminals were built because of a recommendation made by the National Transport Policy Committee (NTPC) for setting up such terminals outside urban areas with a population more than one million.

The purpose was to minimise pollution and traffic congestion in thickly populated metropolitan cities like Calcutta. But to implement such recommendations, state governments had to impose restrictions on the movement of commercial vehicles to urban areas. That trucks are not allowed to enter the city between 8am and 10pm was corroborated by Soumik Sengupta, assistant commissioner, traffic. “According to rules, heavy goods vehicles are banned from entering the metropolitan area from 8am to 10pm,” he said. But in reality, what happens in Calcutta and Howrah, is that hundreds of trucks, carrying perishable and non-perishable goods, enter the cities every day, flouting the timings, while police turn the other way.

Tankers parked on NH-6

“From the very beginning the state government was not serious about imposing restrictions on the movement of goods trucks in Calcutta and allowing commercial vehicles to park on NH6 and Kona Expressway. Though the Dhulagarh truck terminal has capacity for parking 1,000 trucks, only about 300 trucks are stationed there these days,” said a senior officer of CMTTL.

Instead of the terminals, the good trucks and other commercial vehicles are parked on either side of NH6 or Kona Expressway near dhabas, particularly in the stretch from Kolaghat to Unsani. Most of truck drivers prefer to make an ‘arrangement’ with the police on duty at the national highways for parking their vehicles on the road near their preferred dhabas for few hours before leaving for their destinations in Calcutta, Howrah and North 24-Parganas.

The Howrah Truck Terminal

“Every day, 6,000 trucks and trailers enter through NH2 and 4,000 trucks and trailers through NH6 reach Howrah. But most of them are parked either on the side of the road or inside dhabas. Everything is going on with the full knowledge of the police,” said Choudhury.

He said that CMTTL invested Rs 10 crore on its own and took another Rs 18 crore from the bank for setting up the Dhulagarh Truck Terminal. Now with earnings dropping drastically, the authorities are hardup on paying off the EMIs. A senior officer of CMTTL said that the company’s earnings somewhat rose after the vegetable and non-perishable goods market started operating from the Dhulagarh Truck terminal. The trucks and mini trucks carrying goods have to be parked against fees.

There were also other grand plans like shifting the Posta Bazar to Salap to ease traffic congestion and pollution. Goods from Salap would be carried to urban areas in mini and small trucks. Under no case will big trucks be allowed to enter the metropolitan area.

Vegetable market inside the Dhulagarh truck terminal	Inside the Howrah truck terminal

“First, pollution from mini and small commercial vehicles are far less than the big trucks and trailers and since they are small in size, they do not cause traffic congestion. Besides, trade and business would flourish if big markets like Burra Bazar and Posta Bazar are shifted to Salap or other fringe areas” said Samir Roy Chowdhury, a resident of Shibpur.

The Dhulagarh Truck Terminal was supposed to come up on 100 acres of land. But infrastructure was built on far less land because of the state government’s apathy in shifting ‘Posta Bazar’ to Salap.

Parking of goods trucks encroaching a part of the highway is also leading to accidents. At least a dozen people died and several sustained serious injuries on the passageway to NH2 near Rajchandrapur toll plaza due to illegal parking of goods trucks on the road. But still the police choose to look away.