Roads to avoid in Darjeeling on oath day

Darjeeling, July 31.TT: Lebong Cart Road and NH55 that lead to Darjeeling town will be shut near the zoo and Clubside Motor Syndicate, respectively, to keep Chowrastha, the venue for the swearing-in of the GTA councillors, free of traffic on August 4.

Vehicles entering the town through NH55 will have to take Ladenla Road to reach Clubside Motor Syndicate just below Planters’ Club.

“People (who want to attend the ceremony) will have to walk from Clubside Motor Syndicate to the venue at Chowrastha — a distance of 500m. The vehicles will have to proceed towards Lal Khoti and INA Bypass Road where we have made arrangements to accommodate around 500 cars,” said L.T. Bhutia, the inspector-in-charge of Darjeeling Sadar.

He added that once the parking space at Lal Khoti and along the INA Bypass Road are full, no vehicle would be allowed to proceed towards Clubside Motor Syndicate.

“People will then have to get off at Mohanlal petrol pump area and walk to the venue and the vehicles will have to move towards Lebong Cart Road through Judge Bazar and Chowk Bazar for parking,” said Bhutia.

Mohanlal petrol pump is near the Darjeeling DHR station and it is 800m away from the venue.

Vehicles entering Darjeeling town through Lebong Cart Road and Singamari will be stopped near the zoo along the Birch Hill Road and people will have to walk uphill for around 2km to reach Chowrastha.

“Birch Hill Road will be open only for VIPs. Their vehicles will be parked at Gymkhana Club, Mall Road and the Gorkha Rangamanch Bhavan area,” said Bhutia.

The area along Robertson Road and Chowrastha Road (close to the venue) will be made a no-parking zone on that day.

GTA councillors attending the swearing-in ceremony will have to park their vehicles in the Upper Clubside area and walk through Nehru Road to reach Chowrastha.

“GTA councillors coming from the Lebong area will have to use the Judge Bazar route to reach the Clubside area,” said Bhutia.

From there, they will have to walk to the venue.

Bhutia said around 1 lakh people are expected to attend the swearing-in.

He added that arrangements had been made to put up three giant screens at Clubside, Chowk Bazar and Singamari where the programme would be telecast live.

Large television sets will also be put up at a number of places around the Mall.

Bhutia said all 53 local taxi syndicates had been asked to remove their cabs from along the roads so that around 1,500 vehicles that were likely to arrive for the programme could be parked.

“We had a meeting with the representatives of the taxi syndicates in town and they have not only agreed to vacate the space, but have also said they would volunteer to manage traffic in their respective syndicate areas,” Bhutia said.

On any given day around 600 taxis are parked across Darjeeling town.

Taxi drivers on the Singamari-Darjeeling route, a distance of 3km, have decided to suspend the services for the day. “Very few taxis in other routes like Jorebunglow, Dali, Siliguri and Kalimpong will be plying that day,” said Bhutia.