Traffic Disruption Risk To Sikkim, Northeast: What Centre Told Bengal On Chicken Neck Corridor | Exclusive

Last Updated:May 20, 2026, 17:00 IST

Acting quickly, the Adhikari government on May 16 gave an in-principle approval for handing over seven stretches of national highways to the NHAI and the NHIDCL

Just two days after Suvendu Adhikari took over as the new chief minister of West Bengal, the Centre wrote an alarming letter to the state, pointing out that there could be “potential disruption" of traffic to Sikkim and Northeast if highway stretches, including some in the Chicken Corridor, were not handed over to the Centre for maintenance.

CNN-News18 has accessed the letter written by the Centre on May 11 to the Chief Secretary of West Bengal. “Due to non-handing over and taking over, maintenance of important stretches is not being done leading to potential disruption of through traffic to Sikkim, North-East and other parts of West Bengal," the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways said in its urgent missive. This also reflected the Centre’s exasperation with the former Mamata Banerjee government that did not act on the requests since January this year.

Acting quickly, the Adhikari government on May 16 gave an in-principle approval for handing over seven stretches of national highways to the NHAI and the NHIDCL. “These stretches were under the national highway wing of the State’s Public Works Department (PWD), and the handover proposals had been pending for nearly a year despite repeated requests from the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways," the new state government said in an official statement on May 16.

The Centre’s letter on May 11 showed how dire the situation had become.

“These NH stretches have not been handed over to the NHIDCL so far, which is preventing NHIDCL to draw up maintenance plans for these important NHs," the letter said, pointing to central gazette notifications issued on January 16 this year for the handover.

The letter also said NHIDCL has now been “directed to take over the stretch immediately without such wait and take up the development and maintenance work on it".

The three highways being discussed were the NH-10 that passes through the Chicken Neck Corridor and has a strategic section of 66 km from Sevoke Army Cantonment to the West Bengal/Sikkim border. Then there is the NH-317A, which starting from its junction with NH-317 near Hasimara, connects Jaigaon in West Bengal and terminates at India-Bhutan border.

The third highway to be handed is the NH-717 starting from its junction with NH-17 near Baradighi connecting NH-27 near Mainaguri, Cangrabandha in Bengal and terminating at the India-Bangladesh border.

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