Gangtok, Sept. 8 (PTI): A sizeable stretch of National Highway 31a has been washed away by a flooded river in Mamkhola, adding to the woes of Sikkim which has been cut off from the rest of the country for nearly a fortnight now.
The road was washed away even before traffic along the National Highway could be normalised after a major landslide hit it near Siliguri in West Bengal.
A river at Mamkhola in Kalimpong sub-division washed away a 40-metre stretch of the highway yesterday. This has complicated the situation in Sikkim, which depends on its road link to the commercial town of Siliguri for the supply of most essential items, including edibles and fuel.
Border Roads Organisation (BRO) officials working at the site said if the weather permitted, it would take them at least a day or two more to repair the damage. Heavy rains over the past few days have also damaged several other roads in Sikkim, cutting off the southern and western districts from the state capital.
Power supply too has been affected as a transformer in Melli was washed away, plunging most of south Sikkim into darkness, officials said.
Though essentials are in short supply in Gangtok and the prices of vegetables have soared, officials maintained that there is no cause for worry for at least a week.
Border Road Organisation officer A.K.Dikshist has informed Gangtok and Rangpo highway covering a distance of 49 kms have at least 35 trouble spots with 3 major ones consisting of 15mtrs,25mtrs,35mtrs where roads have been swept away and collapsed totally.
It has been reported that Week of Aug30-Sept05 has witnessed a rainfall of 246ml instead of average rainfall of 47ml in past.
More than 200 labourers and 6-7 heavy equipments of BRO are reported to be working on war footing to restore the highways but at least it would be 2-3 days to have some sort of restoration to badly rain damaged connecting highways.
D.C. South District in Sikkim has informed that Namchi is still connected via Naya Bazaar & Darjeeling to the rest of country.
Sikkim Served Fresh Daily
