Gangtok& New Delhi, Sep 22 : Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who is convalescing after a prostate gland operation last week, today received several visitors who wished him a speedy recovery.Shipping and Road Transport Minister T R Baalu also met Dr Singh, a PMO spokesman said.
The PM has taken a serious note of the letter from Sikkim Chief Minister Dr.Pawan Chamling deploring the poor conditions of the NH-31A which is maintained by the Project Dantak and its deteriorated conditions impacting everyday lives of people of Sikkim. The Prime Minister's Office has called a meeting of the Sikkim Chief Secretary ND Chingappa and other state officials along with the officials of the Border Road Organisation at the PMO office itself on September 26.
Senior government officials while confirming the PMO's gesture and further added that main agenda of the Meeting at New Delhi would revolve around the conditions of NH-31A and solutions that could possible implemented to solve the issue.
It maybe recalled that The Chief Minister, Dr.Pawan Chamling has written a letter to the Prime Minister, Dr.Manmohan Singh drawing his attention to the poor state of maintenance of the 31A National Highway and other general staff roads located in Sikkim. The Chief Minister has pointed out in his letter that although the 31A NH is the lifeline for the people of Sikkim yet Border Roads Organisation(BRO) are not keeping required manpower and machinery to deal with natural calamities like landslides that occur frequently along the 31A NH. In fact, the location of the headquarter of the Chief Engineer, Project Dantak at Thimpu, Bhutan, which also looks after the 31A NH, have not helped the matter a bit as the Chief Engineer, Project Dantak has completely failed to appreciate the problems of 31A NH and other general staff roads in Sikkim..The Chief Minister has apprised in his letter that recent incessant rains have triggered major landslides along the 31 A NH in a number of places cutting off Sikkim completely from the rest of the country for the last nearly a month till date. He has further stated that dislocation of this vital national highway has not only affected the movement of people to and fro Siliguri-Gangtok but also the transportation of essential commodities which has put the people of Sikkim in severe hardships. The Chief Minister has rightly pointed out that knowing fully well the fragility of the entire area along the 31A NH BRO should have anticipated such mishaps, specially during monsoons, and kept the required number of manpower and machinery for clearing the debris promptly and attending to the repairs of damages which, sadly, was missing. No wonder, important points near Kali jhora and Coronation bridge, Hathisuray, Chitray, Labor -botey, Tar Khola located along the 31A NH and Lava-Algaraj road connecting Rishi in Sikkim as well as Mangpo-Rangpo road remained breached even after a month.The Chief Minister has therefore requested for Prime Minister’s kind intervention urgently to mitigate the severe hardships being faced by the people of Sikkim. He has also requested the Prime Minister to kindly depute a Central Team to Sikkim to see the state of affairs and assess the extent of damages along the 31A NH falling within Sikkim and North Bengal for urgent restoration.The Chief Minister has also pointed out the delay in pavement/blacktopping of Indira Bye-pass from Amdogolai to Tashi View Point as well as the construction of the drain which clearly reflects the lack of appreciation on the part of the Border Roads Organisation.
