Representatives of the Siliguri-Jalpaiguri Development Authority (SJDA) and Siliguri Municipal Corporation (SMC) on Wednesday jointly announced a number of decisions and plans to ease traffic snarls in Siliguri, a day before Union minister of road transport and highways Nitin Gadkari is set to reach the city.

On Thursday, Gadkari will lay the foundation stone of the 13km, four-lane road that will connect the northeast and northwest ends of Siliguri, via Darjeeling More, the main entry point to the city. The Centre has sanctioned around Rs 1,000 crore for the project.

A day before Gadkari’s visit, SJDA chairman Sourav Chakraborty and Siliguri mayor Gautam Deb held a joint news conference here on Wednesday, where they made announcements such as setting up new parking lots, two new bus terminuses and more CCTV cameras in the city.

Chakraborty told newspersons that earlier, they had requested the Darjeeling district magistrate to identify some areas in and around Siliguri which can be used as parking places.

“As we held a meeting today (Wednesday), the mayor came up with certain suggestions, he mentioned five prospective locations where parking places can be developed. We will soon start working on it,” he said.

Siliguri, clogged with vehicles, faces a perennial parking problem. Many prominent thoroughfares see cars parked randomly on a daily basis, squeezing road space and creating traffic jams.

Darjeeling district magistrate S. Ponnambalam, SJDA sources said, has also recommended that the long-distance private buses, which leave from the outskirts of Tenzing Norgay Central Bus Terminus and off Hill Cart Road for Calcutta, the Northeast and Bihar, should be shifted to Paribahan Nagar in Matigara in the northwest of Siliguri.

Deb said that they had earlier identified a nine-acre plot near Mallaguri close to Darjeeling More and the state transport department would develop a bus terminus there with the chief minister’s consent.

“Another new bus terminus will come up at Naukaghat More (in south parts of Siliguri). We sought assistance from the state, the SJDA and the municipal engineering department to reduce traffic congestion in Siliguri in the next six months,” said the mayor.

The SJDA, sources said, will install more CCTV cameras across the city to intensify surveillance of the Siliguri Metropolitan Police.

“If more cameras are installed, the traffic wing take appropriate action to ensure smooth traffic through important roads and crossings,” the source added.

Such sudden announcements by representatives of the local civic body and the development agency is being seen as an attempt by Trinamul to get into a contest with the BJP over infrastructure, said political observers.

BJP leaders are highlighting major infrastructure projects which the Centre has announced for the region.

It is evident that the saffron camp is all set to play the infrastructure card at the 2024 LokSabha polls and before that in the Bengal rural elections in2023, they pointed out.

“The Centre has made major allocations for infrastructural projects for the improvement of rail, road and air connectivity of this region and BJP will surely highlight these projects. Trinamul, too, intends to prove that it is keen on developing the infrastructure of the city. It is good if such competition persists asit would eventually benefit the city and the region as a whole,” said an observer.