Vehicles stranded on Dr Yen Singh Road in Darjeeling. Picture by Suman Tamang

Darjeeling, April 15: Once a health sanatorium for the tired British working in the plains, Darjeeling has now turned into a “glorified slum” with every infrastructure starting to crumble because of population explosion.

There are no provisions for residents to take a stroll around the town and if one owns a car, it is virtually impossible to drive around — thanks to lack of parking space and contracted pavements most of which have been narrowed down by encroachments.

Darjeeling today is the most densely populated hill town in the world. According to statistics compiled by the state government in 2001, this tourist destination has the highest human density among all mountainous regions of the world with a population of 1,266 persons for every square km.

“There is no space to breathe in town. Darjeeling is now a glorified slum,” said Deepak Singh, a resident.

Traffic snarls are nothing new. “On all the 10 roads managed by the Darjeeling municipality, vehicles line up along one side narrowing down the thoroughfares further,” admitted a senior official.

Cars line up bumper-to- bumper for a stretch of more than 2km along 18 Lebong Cart Road at any time. “There are more than 40 taxi syndicates which operate from the town but there is no single parking space apart from Motor Stand which is too small to handle the volume of almost 1,000 vehicles a day,” the official said. The residents, too, are to be blamed. “People just do not go to Motor Stand to board taxis. They hop on to the vehicles at any part of the town they want.”

The one-way route introduced by the traffic department has not helped much. “The traffic is so huge that there is no space for them to move about freely. So let us not talk about the predicament the pedestrians have to face as they, too, have to use the same road because of lack of pavements,” said Rajesh Subba, another resident.

The municipality has recently identified three places — Dali, Old Bus Stand and the vegetable market — in town to set up parking lots. “We have just made a proposal, which will be placed before the state government in May. We are hopeful that the projects will be approved or else there is no solution to the traffic problem,” said Amal Kanti Ray, the subdivisional officer of Darjeeling Sadar and also the head of civic body.

Many believe that since Darjeeling cannot expand — it is hemmed in by tea gardens and forests on four sides — long term traffic solution can only be arrived at if efforts are made to set up a satellite township.

“Chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee had promised to study a proposal to set up a township at Lapchajat (about 20km from Darjeeling) but then nothing has come out of it,” said an official who was present when Bhattacharjee made the announcement in 2003.

All government offices, schools and hospitals are confined within a 2.5km radius from the heart of the town. It would make sense if all government offices are relocated to a single complex outside the town. This would largely streamline traffic and space too would be available to set up parking zones, the official added.

The municipality has submitted a proposal to the government to dismantle the residential and market complexes it owns to come up with parking spaces on the ground floors. “The proposal has not yet been sanctioned,” he said.