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.(TT)