Street food lane to come up before Durga Puja in Siliguri

Siliguri: Siliguri is all set to get a “Street Food Lane” at Station Feeder Road (S.F Road) before Durga Puja. The Siliguri Municipal Corporation (SMC) has started the process to allot the stalls.

Tenders have been opened since Wednesday. Anyone can apply for the stalls through the official website of SMC online.

There are 20 stalls which will be allotted paying a charge of Rs 1,000 per month for the stall. The contract will be for 11 months. The tender process will end on September 11. On September 15, an open lottery will be conducted at Rabindra Mancha at Baghajatin Park through which the stalls will be distributed. Only the residents under SMC can apply for the stalls. SMC has constructed the stalls on the side of S.F Road.

“We have already ended the construction work of the stalls. The stalls have been beautifully decorated. We hope we will be able to inaugurate the lane before Durga Puja,” said Ranjan Sarkar, Deputy Mayor of Siliguri. The town is popular for its variety of street food. SF Road has always been a street food destination in Siliguri. However, it was unorganised, leading to huge crowds, blocking traffic. With the aim of streamlining things, the SMC zeroed in on the lane to make it the “Street Food Lane” of Siliguri after getting approval from the state government. SMC has already widened the road and constructed the stalls. Out of these 20 stalls, 14 have been kept for general people; two are for catering professionals; one for a sports person; one for a physically-abled person and one for a person with a hotel management diploma degree.

The stalls will be given to the unemployed only.