Gangtok, Sept. 4: Sikkim’s stock of essential goods is fast running out as the main supply line, NH 31A, remains blocked following the landslide at Hatisuray 10 days ago.
A number of trucks laden with supplies are still stuck at the landslide site, 26km from Siliguri. Of the two alternative routes, only the one through Malbazar, Lava, Algarah and Reshi is fit for heavy vehicles.
Prices of vegetables and other food products have already doubled in Sikkim since the blockade began. Commuters are being forced to pay hefty amounts as taxi fare to reach Siliguri via Ghum, Darjeeling and Kurseong, which is much longer route.
According to reports, kerosene, diesel and LPG stocks are nearly spent at the sole Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) depot in Mazitar near Rangpo in East Sikkim. No fresh supplies have arrived at the depot over the past 10 days.
Vehicles in the capital are currently running on the existing stock of fuel available in the market but that may not last much longer. In the districts, the situation is much worse and fuel has been rationed some five days ago.
The stock of LPG cylinders in Sikkim is expected to last only a couple of more days, said Menla Ethenpa, the general manager of State Trading Corporation of Sikkim. The corporation distributes LPG all over the state.
IOC officials from Siliguri said nine of their tankers are currently stranded on way to Sikkim.
The hardware market, too, has been hit badly. “We somehow managed till now but today I ran out of cement, bricks and other construction material,” said a dealer in Gangtok. He added that there is a huge demand for such material in Sikkim, especially because of the construction boom in the state.
Border Roads Organisation is working on a war footing to clear the highway at Hatisuray. The organisation came to opening the route at least four times in the past 10 days, but a number of smaller landslides had put paid to their plans.
Sikkim chief minister Pawan Chamling has expressed concern about the poor condition of the national highway, which is the only direct road link between the state and the rest of the country.
The secretary of the food and civil supplies department has also talked to the district magistrate of Darjeeling to see if essential commodities can be ferried to Sikkim from Siliguri on smaller vehicles through the Ghum-Darjeeling-Kurseong route.
