Parking row: WBIIDC has little to do
7 July 2010
Manas R Bannerjee
SILIGURI, 7 JULY: The West Bengal Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation and the Jalpaiguri police having seemingly thrown in the towel regarding the illegal parking on the approach road leading to the Dabgram Industrial Growth Centre, a no-parking zone and along the National Highway-31 connecting Siliguri and Jalpaiguri, accidents have become almost a daily phenomenon to the despair of the entrepreneurs and the common people.
And the most sordid part of the story is that though there is a Siliguri- Jalpaiguri Development Authority-owned Fulbari Truck Terminal near Dabgram Industrial Growth Centre, hundreds of heavily loaded lorries remain stranded on both sides of the ever-busy NH-31.
Despair seems writ large on the face of the entrepreneurs when the matter has been broached to them. “We dreamt that the area around the centre upto Fulbari and beyond would have improved a lot in terms of transport and other development-related matters. But the reality is saddening, to say the least. The picture is truly precarious on the road front. Illegal parking from Haldia More to Hindustan More has turned a perennial problem. Getting access into the growth centre is becoming more and more like dampening encounters. This aside, the ambience in the surrounding areas keeps deteriorating fast with the women residing in the nearby housing estate feeling insecure to move out after the darkness descends,” said Mr Ajoy Kumar Agarwal, secretary of the Dabgram Industrial Growth Centre.
The locals have told another tale which imparts a more gloomy touch to the sordid story. They alleged that that some youths affiliated with a political party kept extorting money from the lorry drivers in the area in lieu of ensuring ‘trouble-free’ parking along the road.
Sounding distressed, the owner on lease of the Fulbari Truck Terminal, Mr Phani Bhushan Ghosh said that he had been incurring enormous loss. “The lorry drivers prefer to park vehicles on the roadside, turning into mockery the rule related to parking. And consequently, the terminal has turned a nightmarish venture for us. We have grown tired with appealing to the Bhaktinagar police station to come down heavily on the illegal parking. But the nonchalant response deepens our frustration,” he rued. Yet, pleading ignorance of the problem, the superintendent of police, Jalpaiguri, Mr Anand Kumar said that they had received no compliant on the matter. “But once complaint is lodged we would take steps to curb unauthorized parking,” he assured.
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