As many roads in Siliguri are in a deplorable state, the Siliguri Municipal Corporation (SMC) has decided to undertake repair work before the Durga Puja.

The PWD department of the civic body has fixed the priorities to at least repair the roads before the festivals.

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The SMC also said that contractors who are given the road work will be made responsible for their upkeep for the next three years. There will be 384 work worth around Rs 53 crore, which will cover repair work of roads, culverts and bridges that fall under the SMC. It is learnt that tenders for some projects were floated.

“We have fixed up the priorities for work to be done before Durga Puja. Detailed surveys have been conducted to identify those roads, especially those used by many people to visit big budget pujas in the town,” said a member of the mayor-incouncil, PWD, Building, Nurul Islam.

Sources said there are around 40 such roads, which included under the wards 18, 27,35,38,40,41,42,43 and some link roads also while around six mastic roads too need repairs.

According to Mr Islam, they have decided that contractors who construct the roads will now have to take the responsibility of maintaining the roads concerned for three full years.

Many motorists and commuters have complained that the crater-filled roads were not only slowing down traffic movement, but also posing danger of causing accidents. Engineers of the department said the potholes will be all repaired before the Pujas, even though they agreed that stopgap measures would not yield the desired results. “However, repairing of all the roads will take some time and they will all be completed after the pujas,” an engineer said.

Mr Islam said many roads were damaged in the rains and that the estimated loss was around Rs 9-10 crore. He said the department had undertaken work of the roads, bridges, culverts and drains in the SMC area worth around Rs 146 crore in the past four years. Meanwhile, the SMC said the process of acquiring building plans online will start from September this year.