Alipurduar civic body begins road repair work as Railways pays no heed to request

Alipurduar: The road on the Railway Crossing approach section has been in a poor condition for a long period and despite multiple attempts to inform the Railways department, there has been no response.

In view of this, now the Alipurduar Municipality has taken matters into their own hands and begun the road repair works on this section.

The Municipality commenced the work on Sunday morning. There are four recognised Railway level crossings at key locations within the Alipurduar district headquarters primarily in Batamore, Sutlipatti, Babupara and Beltala areas.

The roads on both sides of the level crossings are being repaired.

In this regard, the Alipurduar civic body has expressed dissatisfaction with the Railways. However, the civic body has not directly confronted the Railways and have initiated road repair work that is part of the Railway infrastructure. It is worth noting that the municipality did not seek permission from the Railways in this case.

Prasenjit Kar, chairman of the Alipurduar Municipality, stated: “Durga Puja is approaching and despite these roads being part of the Railways, we have noticed their neglect for a long time. We wrote to the Rail department on September 4, but we are yet to receive a response which compelled us to take action. We don’t want people to face road-related issues during Bengal’s most significant festival. We have heard that the Railways plan to repair the roads in the Alipurduar junction area at an estimated cost of about Rs 2 crore but they have overlooked the four crucial points within the Alipurduar Municipal area. This is a form of deprivation for the people of the district headquarters.”

People are genuinely concerned about the four level crossings. They are frustrated by the daily traffic, deteriorating roads and dust in these four areas. Many have welcomed the Municipality’s initiative. According to the Municipality, approximately Rs 10 lakh will be spent on road repair at these four locations.