The road connectivity to border areas in North Sikkim was restored late on Monday evening with a little relief from rain in the past 24 hours.
However, Dzongu, one of the four subdivisions of the district, continues to remain cut off from the rest of the state.
The road link to the sensitive forward areas in the Chungthang subdivision was restored via Sankalang, which is more circuitous than the ManganChungthang road that is yet to be restored.
“Weather willing, we will take another fourfive days to restore the road. We have started work on constructing retaining structure,” said a source in the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) which maintains the road.
Scores of people in the district, including the other two subdivisions of Mangan and Kabi, have been shifted to safer places after their houses were completely or partially damaged in multiple landslides that hit the area because of heavy rain from Friday to Sunday. No loss of life has been reported.
Sikkim chief minister P.S. Tamang (Golay) toured some of the affected areas on Monday and instructed district officials to speed up relief and rehabilitation measures.
“The chief minister also handed over cash relief of over Rs 3 lakh each to the affected families of Dzongu,” the Sikkim Krantikari Morcha said in a release.
Passingdang in Dzongu has been the worst affected with 19 houses fully damaged in the flash flood on Saturday night. The subdivision continues to remain cut off from the rest of the state because of landslides at different places. “The only way to reach Dzongu now is by transshipment,” said Sonam Lepcha, a social worker of Lum village in Lower Dzongu.
He said there was no shortage of essential supplies for now, but the people were surprised by the magnitude of the devastation caused by the heavy rain so early into the monsoon. “Most of us are making do with our existing stocks. However, essential supplies can be brought even now by headloads,” said Lepcha.
The Sikkim unit of the BJP has written to Union Doner minister Jitendra Singh, seeking financial help in view of the widespread devastation caused by the rains. “BJP Sikkim unit on behalf of the people of Sikkim would like to request your office to extend emergency assistance for the relief and rehabilitation work in the affected areas of Sikkim on urgent basis,” urged D. B. Chauhan, the Sikkim unit president of BJP, in his letter.
NH55 snaps
A 40mstretch of NH55 caved in at Paglajhora near Kurseong on Monday because of heavy rains. The highway connects Siliguri with Darjeeling.The tracks of the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway that run parallel to the highway were not affected.
Additional reporting by Vivek Chhetri in Darjeeling
