Residents of Siliguri, the largest city in north Bengal, as well as thousands of people who visit it every day, are paying the price of so-called development this monsoon.
An unfinished flyover on Burdwan Road, one of the principal thoroughfares in Siliguri, has added to the city’s traffic snarls. The project, taken up by the state PWD around seven years back, is still unfinished.
This apart, almost all major roads of the city and lanes connecting these roads are in a shambles as they have all been dug up to lay underground power cables and a pipeline to supply natural gas to homes and commercial set-ups.
“Seven years have passed, and yet, the work of the 1.1km flyover has not ended. Every day, we have to move through the narrow service lanes beside the flyover. Traffic snarls are frequent on that particular stretch of Burdwan Road. It is disappointing that a project, taken up to ease traffic, has become a cause of jams,” said Manoj Chakraborty, a daily commuter through Burdwan Road.
In 2018, the work on the 1.1km flyover was launched by the state PWD. However, its progress was slow due to multiple factors, including disruptions during the Covid-19 pandemic. Delays hiked project cost from ₹44.85 crore to ₹68.75 crore.
A PWD source said that the desk slab casting work for sections of the flyover towards Mahatma Gandhi More (Air View More) was complete.
“The work on the expansion joint of this segment is ongoing. Once finished, similar work for the installation of the desk slabs on the other side of the flyover heading towards Thakur Panchanan Chowk will commence, and it is likely to be done within the next month. This phase will be followed by laying bitumen surfaces and installing crash barriers in the final stages of the project,” said the source.
Disgruntlement brewing among people for the delay in completion of the flyover made mayor Gautam Deb meet with PWD officials last month. At the meeting, Deb expressed his disappointment over the slow progress of the project.
PWD sources maintained that it was unlikely that work would end this year.
Siliguri residents also pointed to how virtually every road was dug up to lay power cables.
“Across Siliguri, there is hardly any road that has not been dug to lay power cables. Piles of earth and bitumen are lying across roads. During monsoon, the situation has worsened for pedestrians and vehicle-owners. With heaps of mud on one side of the roads, water-logging has worsened with no space for water to flow into the drains,” said Santanu Choudhury, a Pradhannagar resident.
The ₹550-crore project to lay underground power cables has been taken on by the Siliguri Municipal Corporation (SMC) jointly with the West Bengal State Electricity Distribution Company Limited, with financial support from the World Bank.
In the first phase, cables are being laid in 19 of 47 wards in the city, with an expenditure of ₹240 crore.
Rajesh Sharma, a businessman based in the city, sounded equally aggrieved. “We appreciate the decision to develop an underground power supply network. But once the digging is done, the civic body is not taking any initiative to repair the road. This has led to pathetic road conditions this monsoon,” he said.
Kamal Agarwal, member, mayor-in-council (electricity) of the SMC, acknowledged the inconveniences but said they were for the greater good.
“There was no layout of the underground water pipelines, which made the task of laying the power cables tougher. That is why we had to dig roads in many places. The Gas Authority of India Limited is also carrying out the work to develop a network of gas supply to every household,” said Agarwal.
“We understand that people are facing problems because of the flyover work and damaged roads, particularly during monsoon. But they should be patient as the projects will eventually help them. The damaged roads will be repaired in due course,” he said.
