Kolkata Community Portal || Kolkata Community Portal - News, Reviews, Comments & Discussion

Manohar Tirkey, The Bengal Minister Of State For Public Works, Flashes Highway Hope

By ugesh sarkar, Section Roads in Kolkata
Posted on Wed Jul 23, 2008 at 03:46:06 AM EST

The pot-holed national highways that interweave north Bengal will be repaired soon, Manohar Tirkey, the Bengal minister of state for public works, said today.

A high-level meeting that Tirkey had with Union surface transport secretary Brahma Dutt and other officials in Darjeeling yesterday decided that the state public works department would repair the national highways with Central funds soon.

"The change in alignment of the East-West corridor connecting Assam with Gujarat has led to problems," Tirkey said. "Both the Union ministry and the state were confused over the responsibility of maintaining the roads. However, things have been sorted out in the meeting."

According to Tirkey, his department will start repairing NH31 from Bagdogra to Kalchini, covering Sevoke-Malbazar-Chulsa-Binnaguri-Banarhat-Birpara-Madarihat, after receiving Central funds.

Click On "Full Story" for More..

"Also, the repairing of NH55, connecting Darjeeling More on the outskirts of Siliguri with Chowk Bazar in Darjeeling town through Tindharia-Kurseong-Ghum will commence shortly. At many places in the hills, the highway is lower than the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway tracks which causes water logging on the road. We plan to raise the level of the road and put on mastic layers in congested areas," the minister said. "We have been asked to submit revised estimates."

Tirkey said earlier the National Highways Authority of India had decided to build the four-lane corridor through the Dooars. "The responsibility of maintaining the highway thus went to the NHAI. We continued maintaining the Siliguri-Jalpaiguri-Mainaguri-Dhupguri-Falakata-Cooch Behar route which was a state highway earlier but has now been declared NH31D."

"But as the alignment of the East-West corridor has been changed and it will now run through NH31D, the onus of maintaining the Dooars route (NH31) has returned to us. The NHAI holds the responsibility to maintain the NH31D. We will, however, spend around Rs 1.50 crore to repair the Siliguri-Jalpaiguri road since work on the four-lane corridor on this route is yet to start."

Tirkey said Sikkim chief minister Pawan Chamling has asked the officials of the Union ministry, who met him in Gangtok recently, to scout for an alternative route as the people of the state faced problems when NH31A, the lifeline of the state, closes down for landslide and strikes.

Source: The Telegraph 23/July/2008

< Calcutta University Graduate Count Up From Last Year Under The 1+1+1 System | Hill Varsity Offers New Courses By Setting Up Separate Schools Of Indigenous And Folk Studies >