The drivers had started running the trucks on the tracks at
Tindharia, where a landslide-hit portion of NH55 has not been repaired
for the past five years, as they were disgruntled with the circuitous
route for the travel between Siliguri and Kurseong.
The immediate trigger for the truckers' decision to ply through the
highway is the closure of Rohini Road since July 26. With the local
population turning out to support the drivers' decision, it is clear
that approximately 50,000 people living in the area are getting
increasingly restless because of the failure to repair the highway.
Hari Karki, the president of Darjeeling Truck Drivers' Association
(Kurseong unit), said: "We have endured the problem for six years.
Nothing has happened so far. For how long are we to wait for this road
to reopen. We will start an indefinite hunger strike here."
The association has 900 members.
Manna Trikhatri, member of the association, said: "On August 12, we
organised a public meeting at this landslide stretch at Tindharia, which
was attended by the local people. It was at that meeting that we
decided to run our trucks through this stretch from August 16."
The local people said 200-odd trucks plied through the 100-odd meters
of railways tracks to cross the landslide area yesterday. "Such was the
joy among the local people when the trucks crossed the area that many
drivers were garlanded and offered fruit juices. All social organisation
and local people want the highway to reopen and have extended support
to the drivers' association. Neither the Central and state governments
nor the local politicians are serious in solving this issue," said
Bhagwati Rai, a local resident.
Tindharia is over 30km from Siliguri.
"To visit Kurseong or Siliguri, we used to pay Rs 40 for a two-way
trip. Now people have to pay at least Rs 100 and many students studying
in these areas have left schools. Prices of commodities have also
increased," said Hem Kumar Sewa, the president of the Lakshya Social
Welfare Association.
The landslide had swept the DHR rail line and the road which run
parallel to each other on that day. However, two years back, the DHR
authorities cut the hillside, including a portion of their workshop, and
created a 10ft space where the railway line was laid. It is through
this space that the truckers started plying their vehicle since
yesterday.
Sources in the DHR said they could not allow the trucks to ply
through the stretch as it was risky and dangerous. With the railway
protection force and local police stopping vehicles from plying along
the stretch, a diesel engine with a coach that was going to the
Tindharia workshop was stopped by the local people around 10am today.
Asked about the status of repair, Ajay Singh, executive engineer of
state PWD (NH division IX), said: "The Centre sanctioned around Rs 75
crore for the repair and tender has been floated for the fourth time.
There were no takers till the third tender and it is for the ministry to
decide the next course of action."
Sources have said the last date of bidding for the fourth tender is August 19.
In 2013, Calcutta-based Bharat Banijya Eastern Private Limited was
selected for the purpose but the Union minister of road transport and
highways Nitin Gadkari terminated the project in February, 2015, saying
there had been no significant progress in the restoration of the road.
At the heart of the matter behind bidders' lack of interest in the
tenders is the mode of construction. Sources said construction firms
wanted the work to be done in the Bill of Quantity (BoQ) mode, in which
separate tasks had separate estimates. "Also in the BoQ mode, a revision
of estimates can be done, depending on the escalation of costs," said a
PWD source.
However, in the last three tenders, work was to be done in the EPC
mode. EPC stands for engineering, procurement and construction. In this
mode, the contractor will have to complete the project within an agreed
amount and time.(TT)
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