Residents dwelling in rural areas of Siliguri sub-division flagged the issue of traffic congestion along NH 10 as they walked up to the booths to cast their votes for the three-tier elections of Siliguri Mahakuma Parishad on Sunday.According to the residents, a stretch of the highway that connects Balason river bridge, which is in the northwest end of the city, with Darjeeling More — the principal entry point to Siliguri — remains congested throughout the day, causing inconvenience for them.

Over seven lakh people live in rural parts of the sub-division and thousands of them travel to Siliguri every day on different errands.

“Traffic congestion is one of the major problems which we people, who do not live in the Siliguri civic area, have to face every day.

During rush hours, it takes even an hour to cross this five-kilometre stretch. Though it is a local election, we voted on Sunday with the aspiration that the elected representatives will raise this issue in appropriate forums,” said Subodh Jha, who stays in a residential complex in Matigara.Dipak Gupta, a teacher who dwells in Uttarayon, a township in Matigara, also narrated his ordeal. Every day, it takes almost an hour for him to reach Shivmandir, located beyond Balason bridge on the way to Bagdogra.

“The bridge got damaged almost eight months back but till date, no initiative has been taken to build a second bridge to reduce the traffic congestion. Earlier, there was a fair weather bridge but it has been washed away by the swollen river. These days, it takes several minutes to cross the bridge. We don’t know when things will change for us,” said Gupta, while mentioning that his wife, too, faces the same problem as she is a teacher in a Siliguri school and has to cross Darjeeling More every day.

A number of residents, while standing in queues at the booths, said they are aware that the Centre has planned to build a four/six lane road along the stretch, along with new bridges over Balason.

“But it is a long-term plan which, I believe, will take years to finish. What we need is some prompt decisions which can reduce the congestion unless the road is widened. Even today, slow moving vehicles run along this stretch of the highway, which further aggravates the situation,” said another resident.

Political leaders, when told about the issue, spoke differently. While Trinamul leaders mentioned that the responsibility of widening the highway lies with the Centre, BJP leaders reiterated that the Centre has sanctioned over 1,000 crores for the project.

“The Union ministry of road transport and highways has also issued the tender. We expect the work to start soon. The state government should confirm that the land required for this widening is available,” said a BJP leader.