Rohini Road toll from December Charge on quickest route to hills... GTA’s decision to levy toll from Dec draws flak

Vivek Chhetri, TT, Darjeeling, Nov. 29: The GTA will charge a toll from vehicles that use the Rohini Road from December 1.

This is the first time that the GTA has levied a charge for the use of a road, which the hill body said was for maintaining a newly re-laid stretch from Rohini to Kurseong town. Vehicle users will have to pay the toll at a plaza in Rohini, 60km from Darjeeling town.

The charge will have to be paid both ways — on the way to Kurseong and while coming down from the hills.

The road, which is most favoured by travellers because of its good condition and for being the quickest, starts from Siliguri and merges with NH55 in Kurseong town.

Travellers from the plains who take the road but do not go as far as Rohini will not have to pay the charge, which means the toll is effective only for the 11km stretch from Rohini to Kurseong.

Beyond Kurseong town, the NH55 is under the national highway division of the PWD.

The GTA has selected a private agency to collect the toll and maintain the 11km stretch. GTA officials said a tender was called and the Hill Queen Toll Plaza was given the contract for three years.

The Hill Queen Toll Plaza would pay the GTA Rs 1.8 crore every year under the contract.

Though the GTA, which has the roads department under it, had decided on the toll rates last week, it slashed these today after opposition from several hill outfits.

Objections were raised by drivers and owners of trucks and pick-up vans that take the road. The Trinamul (hills), the Akhil Bharatiya Gorkha League and a newly-formed apolitical outfit called the Darjeeling Dooars United Development Foundation had also objected to the rates.

The relaying of the 11-km stretch was started by the now defunct DGHC and completed by the GTA.

Jyoti Kumar Rai, the executive GTA Sabha member in charge of transport, said: “Today, we decided to revise the rates for minibuses, pick-up vans and trucks. This is largely because the Chalak Mahasangh (a transport body in Kurseong) had raised objections.”

Rai added: “The agency will also be responsible for maintaining and carrying out repairs along the route.”

The GTA’s decision to hand over toll collection to a private firm has attracted criticism from its rival, the ABGL. Pratap Khati, general secretary of the party, said: “Since the entire amount in repairing the road has come from the government, it makes little sense to hand over the collection to a private agency which will just be making profit.”

The GTA has also decided to collect toll on the Pankhabari Road once repair is completed there. The rate will be the same for Pankhabari.

THT, The Gorkhaland Territorial Administration’s (GTA) decision to levy toll on the Rohini Road connecting Darjeeling with the plains has met with stiff resistance from both political and apolitical outfits. Dubbing the toll rates “exorbitant”, the outfits have demanded that the GTA reconsider the rates.

The Hill Trinamool Congress submitted a memorandum to the principal secretary, GTA, on Friday demanding that the rates be reconsidered and that toll be levied for one way only (either coming up from Siliguri or going down to Siliguri.)

“We are not against levying toll but nowhere are rates so high for a mere, 11 km long road. A truck carrying goods from Siliguri to Darjeeling and back will have to pay ` 9000/- a month (`150/- for one way.) The rates that the GTA has decided upon will definitely have a major impact on public life. Taxi fares will go up and with the good carriers paying such exorbitant toll, the price of essential commodities will definitely shoot up. Already the Hill economy having borne the brunt of bandhs is in doldrums,” said local Trinamool leader NB Khawas.

“The present rates are indicators of corruption,” alleged Khawas.

The TMC has demanded that rates be reconsidered and slashed so that it does not have any impact on daily life of the public.

The GTA has decided to levy toll from December on the Rohini Road. Taxis commuting to Siliguri will be charged ` 30; light private vehicles ` 40, ` 100 for luxury taxis and ` 150 for trucks.