Siliguri: ‘Tenzing Norgay Bus Terminus to get a facelift’

One of the most important bus terminus in Siliguri is Tenzing Norgay Bus Terminus. With the aim of developing the entire bus terminus, Gautam Deb, chairman of the advisory council of the bus terminus, held a second meeting of the council on Monday at the office of Siliguri Municipal Corporation (SMC).

The meeting was attended by all the members of the council along with DCP traffic and police officials. After the meeting, Gautam Deb said: “This terminus will be given a facelift. Siliguri Jalpaiguri Development Authority (SJDA) and North Bengal Development Department (NBDD) will do the work. There are some issues in the terminus. We have discussed the issues. Soon, the problems will be resolved. We are also focusing on reducing traffic congestion near the terminus. Therefore, discussion is going on to shift a few of long-route buses to Tibatti More Bus terminus or Pariwahan Nagar.”

Pranab Kanti Mani, president of North Bengal Passenger Cooperative Association who was present at the meeting, said that he had written a letter to the Advisory Council on February 2 regarding multiple issues of this bus terminus.

In that letter, he had mentioned the garbage disposal issue at the terminus. He said: “Garbage is accumulating at the bus terminus which has become a major problem. Earlier, SMC or North Bengal State Transport Corporation (NBSTC) authority used to clear the garbage but it has been two years since the work has stopped. As a result, the bus owners are cleaning the terminus from their own money but now those who have been clearing garbage demanded Rs 1,500 per garbage van, which we cannot pay. Therefore, we wrote to the council and requested them to intervene in the issue. Managing director of NBSTC assured us that they will resolve the matter.”