Roads play vital roles for development in hills

Jitendra Sharma

Kurseong Feb 15: Roads are institutions of development. Where there are roads there are chances of greater development. An example of which can be seen in the Darjeeling hills now.

Before 2007 Rohini a hamlet in the outskirts of Kurseong Town was covered with a large swathe of Tea Gardens, Forest and Army land. Rohini was considered at that point of time one of the remotest regions in the District where farming was the main occupation of the residents living there. Whenever a villager stepped into Kurseong Town they would be asked if they were from Rohini.

Post 2007 due to the initiative taken by the then DGHC care-taker administrator Subash Ghisingh built a road that would connect Kurseong to Siliguri and in quick time now the very face of Rohini has changed forever.

The road was completed and inaugurated on July 2007 which cost a total of Rs. 10.69 crores. The new road brought fast development to Rohini never seen before and soon the area became a hive throbbing with tourists as several tourism infrastructures were also laid. Hotels and private residents mushroomed spiraling the price of land once  considered a remote area. But later with the passage of time and with the advent of a new political turmoil in the hills the road gradually deteriorated.

With a new dispensation, the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) finally installed in the Hills in 2011, its Chief Executive Bimal Gurung took over the matter of re-designing the road again to give it a fresh look in 2012. 9 months later after an expenditure of more than 15 crores the road was again fit for heavy traffic and in its new avatar has now made Rohini more resplendent following which everybody wishes to build residences and hotels there. The price of land has in the meantime become exorbitant. Today the 17 km Rohini Road is the most popular route to Siliguri in the Hills and appreciated by almost everyone.

On the other hand the once thriving regions of Mahanadi and Tindharia in Kurseong Sub Division connected by the British era road, the National Highway 55 with Siliguri has now become isolated and turned remote due to the near collapse of the main arterial road.

The NH55 was the heart-line of transportation of Darjeeling Hills because of which all the small townships lying along its parameters flourished in trade and commerce. But with its collapse all modes of transportation suffered including the toy train services resulting in the slow drying up of its revenues.

Since 16 June 2010 the NH55 near 14 Mile in Ghayabari has been hit by major landslides occurring for consecutive years during the monsoon and due to its re-constructional works still not started or yet completed the areas have totally cut off and hence isolated from the rest of the hills. The once flourishing region has now lost its colour and has slowly started to fade into oblivion.

Good roads are indeed the umbilical cord to which development is attached with and the once remote but now thriving Rohini and the now dead townships of then flourishing Mahanadi and Tindharia are today prime examples.