GANGTOK, Aug. 1: More than 15 houses were damaged by mudslides triggered by torrential downpour at Bardang near Singtam in East Sikkim today. The slip also damaged large tracts of land under crop. Fearing landslide, residents of the affected houses had evacuated last night, which may have saved their lives. “A wall of my house has collapsed. Unless repaired soon, my entire house would fall apart,” lamented a victim Mr HB Pradhan. The story is almost the same for the rest of the affected as well. Surveying the situation, the panchayat secretary and other officials said: “While some of the houses have suffered irreparable damage others would take a lot of repairing. A report would be submitted to the local BDO after the survey,” said Mr Pratap Singh Rai, a panchayat secretary. “We assure the victims compensation, which would be paid according to the extent of the damage,” he added. The continuous downpour has turned the local streams into roaring outlets of water, which while plunging downhill is washing away large tracts of farmland under crop.“The gushing water has swept away all my crop. I do not know what to do now,” wailed a local farmer Man Bahadur Thapa. The victims alleged that they had reported the condition of the streams in that area to the area panchayat and MLA but no action had been taken to channelise the water. In the meanwhile, a lorry bearing registration No SK-03 1955 was buried under a pile of mud at Fatak Line in Rangpo last night.A flash slide took toll of the vehicle loaded with consumer goods. “The National Highway 31A was blocked the whole of last night till this afternoon due to the lorry buried in the mud,” said Mr AK Yadav, a GREF official. The NH 31A was reopened to traffic after 11: 30 a.m. today. Continous downpour in the state over the past few days has also affected tourism. Tourists are not visiting the state owing to bad weather
