Firhad Hakim flays Centre for NH dilly-dally in Siliguri

State municipal affairs and urban development minister Firhad Hakim played the development card on Monday to draw support from Siliguri residents and simultaneously criticised the Centre for delaying a highway-widening project that he said could have eased traffic snarls in a major part of the city.

Hakim, here to attend a Mahatma Gandhi statue-unveiling programme organised by Siliguri Municipal Corporation, claimed that the Narendra Modi government had not taken up the task to widen a stretch of NH31 that runs through the northern end of the city.

In Siliguri, acute traffic congestion in and around Darjeeling More — the principal entry point to the city and the junction of NH31 and NH55 — is a major problem.