Rains continue to cause worry among residents of many areas of Gangtok
GANGTOK: Incessant rains in the past few days have damaged several houses in many areas in and around Gangtok.
Last night’s heavy downpour caused several land slides at Kopi Bari, a tiny hamlet located 2 kms below Deorali here. The people of the area spend sleepless nights even as the torrential rains lashed the area almost throughout the night.
A huge piece of land below Nam-Nang slipped away endangering the residents of Kopi Bari. The portion of the hill that has caved in lies just above Kopi Bari. Local people blame the haphazard network of water pipes that supply water to the Army Cantonment and Hotel Royal Plaza near by.
“We had been peristently requesting the concerned department to remove these pipes but in vain,” Bishnu Chettri, a resident of Kopi Bari, said. According to the people, the water leakages from those pipes are the root cause of the land slides.
Meena Rai narrowly escaped when a huge boulder fell on her house. “The sound was something like that of an earthquake, but later we realized a huge rock mass fell upon our house leaving us with no chance to flee”, said Meena.
Area MLA Kunga Zangpo Bhutia, along with Tempo Bhutia and Namgyal Wangdi, the sector wardens from Civil Defence visited the affected area today. Talking to a Local newspaper, the area MLA said all residing families will be directed to evacuate their houses and will be rehabilitated temporarily at Kopi Bari School. He also assured of compensation to the affected families.
As per the latest report from office of the District Collect orate, 11 houses were affected at Kopi Bari with two cows being injured. One house each at Tathangchen and Amdo Golai, Bye- Pass has also been damaged. The District Collect orate informed that the evaluation and assessment of loss and damage of properties is on.
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