The Centre has started the process to build a new road bridge over the Teesta river that would connect the Sevoke Bazaar area with the Dooars, a longstanding demand of residents, with necessary approval from the railways to construct the approach road to it on railway land.

On Saturday, Darjeeling MP Raju Bista said this March, he raised the issue in Parliament. “Recently, I received a letter from the Union minister of state for road transport & highways (Gen V.K. Singh) saying preparation of the detailed project report of the proposed bridge is in progress. Also, the ministry sought and obtained the right of way (RoW) from the railway ministry for construction of the approach road of the bridge, along with certain modifications,” said Bista.

The Union minister said the bridge project was included under the National Infra¬structure Pipeline (NIP) programme for 20232024 fiscal.

Till now, the most popular route to access the Dooars from Siliguri and the hills is NH 31 that moves through the Coronation Bridge in Sevoke, some 25km from Siliguri.

But in 2011, cracks were noticed in some parts of the Coronation Bridge built over the Teesta in 1941. The state PWD impose a ban on vehicles weighing 10 tonnes and above on the bridge. Since then, heavy vehicles bound for the Dooars take detours via Jalpaiguri, raising the demand for a bridge parallel to Coronation Bridge but a little down¬stream to avoid hilly terrain.

“Accordingly, it was decid¬ed that a 1.6kmlong and 13mwide bridge will be built to link Sevoke Bazaar with Ellenbarrie tea estate,” said a source.

BSF boss visit

Rakesh Asthana, the BSF directorgeneral, reached north Bengal on Saturday for a twoday visit. Asthana reached the north Bengal frontier of the BSF at Kadamtala on the outskirts of Siliguri to a warm welcome from senior officers. On Day One, he visited the Teenbigha Corridor on the IndiaBangladesh border and the in¬tegrated checkpost in Fulbari and witnessed the joint retreat ceremony of India and Bangladesh.

Asthana also inaugurated two new border outposts and a 120men barrack at the station headquarters of Jalpaiguri.