Traffic along a stretch on NH10, the arterial highway that connects Sikkim and Bengal’s Kalimpong district with Siliguri and the rest of the country, came to a halt late on Monday evening the road caved in at Swetijhora, some 30 kilometres from here.

As a result, vehicles bound for Siliguri from Sikkim and Kalimpong and vice-versa, are taking detours of at least 70 kilometres.

Sources in the state PWD (NH10 division) said the cave-in occurred a kilometre ahead of Birikdara, where a cave-in had occurred last month. The road had been restored on September 6 almost after one month.

“A 70-metre-long stretch of the road bench of NH10 collapsed yesterday evening (Monday). This has happened as the Teesta river has eroded chunks of land from under the road. Due to the cave-in, there is hardly any space even for a light vehicle to move along the stretch,” said an official of the PWD.

As a result, vehicles couldn’t ply on NH10, which connects Gangtok, the state capital of Sikkim, between Sevoke and Teesta Bazar, located 35 kilometres apart.

After the incident, the state PWD engaged earth movers to cut down the hills so that a new road could be built along the stretch.

“Work has started since this morning and it will take some days to build the new road. In case it rains, the work will get disrupted,” the official added.

The cave-in has left stakeholders of the tourism industry amid uncertainty. The inflow of tourists will start in another seven to 10 days, they pointed out.

Those associated with adventure sports in Kalimpong, particularly white water rafting in the Teesta which started on Sunday, are worried if they would get adventure enthusiasts during the upcoming festive season.

Since March this year, they had to face huge losses because of the recurring closure of NH10. Also, from June 15 to September 15, the administration stopped all adventure sports activities because of monsoonal rains to avert mishaps.

“After monsoons, we started the rafting yesterday (Monday) and today (Tuesday), the road has closed down due to the cave-in. We hope the road connectivity is restored at the earliest so that tourists do not face any inconvenience in travelling to Kalimpong and Sikkim,” said Pramod Chhetri, the president of the Teesta Rangeet River Rafters Welfare Association.

“We have around 100 members who earn from rafting. We have borne huge losses due to the bad road conditions and also due to the glacial lake outburst flood that occurred last year. Now again, we are confronting a problem,” he added.