Sikkim highway slide near border

Gangtok, July 19: A landslide on NH31A near the Bengal-Sikkim border paralysed traffic on the key highway for around eight hours.

According to the Border Roads Organisation chief engineer Brig. Rajiv Sawhney, the landslide happened at Tarkhola, 6km from Rangpo, near the spot where a slide on Tuesday had blocked traffic for 17 hours.

Today’s landslide occurred at 6am. The road was cleared around 2pm.

“We have started the road clearance operation by pressing into service three JCB excavators but as of now, the highway is closed to traffic.” said the BRO official in the morning.

Sawhney said around hundred landslides have been reported along the 95km national highway from Sevoke to Namli in the past one week. The NH31A connects Sikkim with the rest of the country.

“The ongoing road widening work on the national highway is resulting in the frequent landslides. The cutting on the upper portions of the road for widening and the incessant rain is making the soil loose, resulting in the landslides. The road-widening is expected to get over in another six months,” said the BRO official.

According to BRO sources, in the last ten years, the national highway has not seen so many landslides in a week.

According to the meteorological department in Gangtok, the area where the landslides occurred have recorded 65mm of rainfall in the last 24 hours. Travellers had to take an alternative route which prolonged the usual journey from Siliguri to Gangtok by two hours.

“The slides along NH31A have become unpredictable, we have a buffer stock of the essential commodities stored in case of an emergency which can support people for at least a month,” said a senior official of the state food and civil supplies and consumer affairs department.(TT)