Bista counters Darj More road claim

SNS, SILIGURI, 1 DECEMBER 2020 : Darjeeling MP Raju Bista today came down heavily on state urban development minister Firhad Hakim and criticised his "ignorance of a specific subject" before speaking about them to the media.

"I am astounded to read the outrageous claim made by state Cabinet minister Firhad Hakimji that it was due to the Centre's apathy that the development of Darjeeling More in Siliguri hasn't happened.' Nothing could be further from the truth," Mr Bista, who is also the BJP' s national spokesperson, said, adding " Mr Hakim seems to be as ignorant as WB Tourism Minister Gautm Deb who once staged a dharna against his own government last year, as he was unaware that the stretch of highway between Khaprail More to Darjeeling More came under the WB PWD and not under the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI)."According to Mr Bista, he has received a written communication from Union Minister Nitin Gadkari on July 29, 2020, wherein he has said that the state PWD has been advised to explore the option of developing the junctions at Darjeeling More and Siliguri Town Underpass as grade-separated junctions within available ROW, or provide consent for furnishing land to develop these two junctions as trumpet interchanges to facilitate the local traffic.

"West Bengal PWD has been developing a DPR (Detailed Project Report) for four-laning of the stretch. However, they are yet to complete the report and hand it over to the Centre," Mr Bista claimed, adding, "Alternatively, the Union Ministry had asked for land to be handed over so that the NHAI could develop the stretch, and sadly that too has not been done by the WB PWD department."

"I am requesting Firhad Hakim to kindly make public the details of any and all proposals prepared by the WB PWD department so far regarding this," he said.