State municipal affairs and urban development minister Firhad Hakim played the development card on Monday to draw support from Siliguri residents and simultaneously criticised the Centre for delaying a highway-widening project that he said could have eased traffic snarls in a major part of the city.

Hakim, here to attend a Mahatma Gandhi statue-unveiling programme organised by Siliguri Municipal Corporation, claimed that the Narendra Modi government had not taken up the task to widen a stretch of NH31 that runs through the northern end of the city.

In Siliguri, acute traffic congestion in and around Darjeeling More — the principal entry point to the city and the junction of NH31 and NH55 — is a major problem.

“People here suffer traffic congestion at Darjeeling More. This is because of the lack of initiative of the Centre that delayed the process of widening that stretch of the highway,” Hakim told journalists at the PWD inspection bungalow. “We have completed land acquisition for the project. The chief minister had even spoken with the Union minister of surface transport and requested him to take up the project to reduce inconveniences of the residents. But the Centre has not taken any initiative.”

This stretch of NH31 also connects Asian Highway II that skirts the city.

Time and again, particularly after the four-lane highway was completed, the demand to widen the stretch of NH31 (a double-lane road now) into a six-lane highway with multiple connectors at Darjeeling More had been raised. State tourism minister Gautam Deb had also held a sit-in at Darjeeling More on it.

Political observers pointed out that Hakim raised an important point ahead of the elections. It is evident that Trinamul leaders would highlight unfinished central projects to make their point, they opined. “In north Bengal, augmentation of road and rail infrastructure has remained a major demand and there are a number of pending projects where the Centre is yet to make a move. It would be interesting to see how BJP handles these allegations of delay and indecision,” an observer said.

Hakim spoke on some other important projects of the city. He said the new drinking water project of Siliguri would be included under AMRUT (Atal Mission for Rejuvenation & Urban Transformation) scheme. “We would also take up a comprehensive sewerage project for the city soon. A project with an estimated cost of Rs 150 crore has been planned for solid waste management of the city. The state has already sanctioned Rs 18 crore for it,” Hakim said.