Kolkata, March 13 -- State Transport minister Snehasis Chakraborty on Thursday said that the state government has taken a slew of measures for easing traffic congestion in Siliguri, the gateway to North Bengal.

The minister also stated some future plans undertaken by the state for further reducing bottlenecks in reply to a query from BJP legislator Sankar Ghosh, MLA of Siliguri.

"We have entrusted RITES with the responsibility of working out an easy mobility plan for Siliguri and has already made significant interventions to reduce traffic congestion," Chakraborty said. He maintained that the state has constructed a 48-km road from EM Bypass in Siliguri to Jalpaiguri and is presently coming up with a flyover on Burdwan Road and another flyover in the stretch between Fulbari and Gajaldoba has been set up. The movement of 4,000 registered e-rickshaws popularly known as totos have also been streamlined with the police providing colourful QR codes and fixing their routes for movement.

Moreover, the police has restricted the movement of 7,000 unauthorised totos in pocket routes preventing them from venturing in major thoroughfares like Sevoke Road, Hill Cart Road etc. The state has made plans to come up with a bus terminus at Paribahan Nagar by shifting the existing truck terminus to Ghoshpara area. "At present, the private long distance buses flock in and around the Tenzing Norgay bus stand which result in congestion. There is another option of setting up a bus terminus at Himul where there is a 7-acre land for shifting of the private buses," the minister said.

He added that proliferation of totos in a number of urban areas is contributing to traffic snarls and hence the department will be streamlining the movement of these three-wheelers. The department is developing QR codes and stickers for the totos in collaboration with the state IT department.

This will be affixed on each of these vehicles as soon as they get registered with us. The police, the urban local body or Panchayat Samiti along with officials of the Transport department will then earmark the specific route of that toto.

Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.