picture of the cave-in on NH 31A near Chitrey.
Gangtok:NH 31A, bearing the onslaught of heavy rains and landslips, has caved in at two spots near Chitrey, a short distance from where the state highway to Kalimpong branches off the national highway. At both the places, the highway has been reduced to a one-lane affair.
An official of the Border Roads Organisation, which maintains NH 31A, said wire-crates filled with boulders would be placed at the cave-in sites in a couple of days’ time to act as a guard wall. “Collecting boulders from the rivers is a problem because they are overflowing, but everything else is in place” he said.
To make matters worse, poor maintenance has reduced the stretch of NH 31 between Siliguri and Sevoke Rail Gate (from where the uphill climb begins) to what the drivers call “a pot-holed dirt track”. Unlike NH 31A, this road is maintained by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI).
“The maintenance cost for vehicles plying on the road has doubled in the last two years,” said Tshering Dorjee, the president of Kalimpong Mainline Taxi Drivers’ Welfare Association.
Yesterday, however, NHAI announced in Siliguri that the maintenance fund for the road would be increased to Rs 5.44 crore. The BRO, too, has already sanctioned a project to resurface a 3km stretch of the road from Sevoke Rail Gate to Coronation Bridge
An official of the Border Roads Organisation, which maintains NH 31A, said wire-crates filled with boulders would be placed at the cave-in sites in a couple of days’ time to act as a guard wall. “Collecting boulders from the rivers is a problem because they are overflowing, but everything else is in place” he said.
To make matters worse, poor maintenance has reduced the stretch of NH 31 between Siliguri and Sevoke Rail Gate (from where the uphill climb begins) to what the drivers call “a pot-holed dirt track”. Unlike NH 31A, this road is maintained by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI).
“The maintenance cost for vehicles plying on the road has doubled in the last two years,” said Tshering Dorjee, the president of Kalimpong Mainline Taxi Drivers’ Welfare Association.
Yesterday, however, NHAI announced in Siliguri that the maintenance fund for the road would be increased to Rs 5.44 crore. The BRO, too, has already sanctioned a project to resurface a 3km stretch of the road from Sevoke Rail Gate to Coronation Bridge
