
The ministry has also sanctioned ₹995.04 crore for the construction of a four/six-lane road with service roads from Shivmandir, where the Asian Highway II connects NH 31, and up till Sevoke army cantonment. It is a 13km stretch that connects the Balason river bridge — from where the Asian Highway–II takes a southward turn — with the Sevoke military station and also the highway is strategically important for the country because it moves along the Siliguri corridor — the thinnest part of the Indian sub-continent — and closer to a number of prominent defence establishments, including the headquarters of Trishakti Corps in Sukna, the Indian Air Force Station at Bagdogra, the Sevoke Military station and the army camp at Bengdubi near Bagdogra.