A new bus terminus was opened in southern Siliguri on Wednesday.

The bus terminus, which came up on a plot at Tinbatti More, will help decongest traffic across the city as buses of different routes will run from here.

It is the third bus terminus in the city.

The other two are the Tenzing Norgay Central Bus Terminus off Hill Cart Road near Siliguri Junction railway station and the PCM Bus Terminus off Sevoke Road.

On Wednesday, Gautam Deb, the mayor of Siliguri Municipal Corporation (SMC), inaugurated the terminus built jointly with the state transport department and the civic body.

“The local bus stand (buses so far would leave from Court More and on their return reach Bagrakote) will be shifted to the newly opened bus terminus. The district magistrate of Darjeeling will soon hold a meeting with bus owners of different routes in this connection,” Deb said after inaugurating the terminus.

The new terminus has come up on a four-acre plot and has 15 bus bays and a toilet block. Sources said ₹2.58 crore has been spent on the project.

After the inauguration, the North Bengal State Transport Corporation (NBSTC) started the movement of its buses from Siliguri to four different routes (Pahargumia, Panitanki, Kharibari, and Naxalbari) within the Siliguri subdivision.

"In due course, buses bound for Jalpaiguri, Alipurduar, Cooch Behar, and some other routes will start running from here. It will help ease traffic as the buses of these routes will no longer roam around the principal thoroughfares of Siliguri,” said a source in the civic body.

The state power department, Deb said, will soon illuminate the terminus area by spending ₹40 lakh.

“I will hold a meeting with the minister and the officials of the transport department here soon to work on the plan for better traffic management of the city,” said the mayor.

He said that another initiative has been taken to shift some long-distance buses, especially those running in different destinations of Bihar and Assam, will be shifted to Paribahan Nagar in Matigara which is on the northern outskirts of Siliguri.

As of now, these buses leave from near the TNCBT. “The Siliguri Jalpaiguri Development Authority and the state municipal affairs department will spend around ₹2 crore to develop infrastructure at Paribahan Nagar. Once operational, vehicular movement will get smoother in Siliguri,” Deb added.

Water supply pause

The Siliguri Municipal Corporation will stop the supply of drinking supply in all 47 wards of the civic area on November 22 and 23.

Mayor Gautam Deb said it would be done to make the new intake well operational.

The intake well, used to draw water from the Teesta canal to the water treatment plant at Fulbari on the southern outskirts of Siliguri, was recently inaugurated by chief minister Mamata Banerjee. “Engineers of the state PHE department will connect it with the old intake well for a better water supply,” he said.

On these two days, SMC will supply water to residents of the city through 30 tankers. Around two lakh water pouches will also be distributed among people.