NH10, the principal highway connecting Sikkim and the neighbouring Kalimpong district of Bengal, will reopen from Wednesday after a gap of one month, but only for light vehicles.

Balasubramanian T., the district magistrate of Kalimpong, issued an order on Tuesday mentioning that light vehicles would be able to ply between Chitray and Sweti Jhora, the stretch where vehicular movement was closed, from Wednesday.

“The decision has been made in consultation with the officials of NH Circle III of the state PWD. Vehicular movement would be allowed from 6am to 6pm until further order,” said a source.

Also, vehicles will move in single planks in five spots and stretches that were affected by landslides or cave-ins. These are Selfie Dara, Birick Dara, Lukhu Veer, Andheri and 27th Mile.

Though only light vehicles would be allowed and that too for 12 hours in the day, the decision has come as a major relief for daily commuters and those associated with the tourism industry.

“It is a major development as over the past one month, we had to take detours to reach Siliguri by covering around 70km extra. Now at least the road is opened for light vehicles and we can commute easily,” said Ranjit Lama, a teacher based in Rangpo, the bordering town of Sikkim.

According to administrative sources, police personnel would be posted in specific locations for better traffic movement.

“The Rabi Jhora–Teesta Bazaar stretch of SH12, which connects Darjeeling with Kalimpong via Peskhok, has been damaged because of inundation caused by the Teesta. At the site, repair and restoration work is in full swing. This road will be open for light vehicles but there will be intermittent closures,” said a source.

Since October, when a flash flood occurred in the Teesta, NH10 had suffered extensive damages in different stretches and vehicular movement had come to a halt. Many stretches of the road got damaged again during the ongoing monsoon season, prompting the Kalimpong district administration to stop the movement of vehicles.

The NH division of the state PWD was grappling with these back-to-back damages. The consistent downpour had also hampered repair and restoration work.

In such a situation, demands were raised from Sikkim and Kalimpong that the stretch of NH in Bengal should be handed over to the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) or the National Highway & Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (NHIDCL). Even Raju Bista, the BJP MP of Darjeeling, had met Union minister of road transport and highways Nitin Gadkari and had requested the change.

Senior officials of the Bengal government said they were trying hard to complete the renovation and restoration of the damaged portions of NH10, but it got affected by the overflowing Teesta.

“Earlier, we used to face trouble maintaining NH-10 towards the end of the
rainy season. But as the riverbed of Teesta has risen over the years, the highway is getting damaged from the
onset of monsoon. It is natural that if the road is affected by the overflowing river repeatedly, the restoration work would take longer,” said a senior official.

Sources said the Bengal PWD, which maintains a stretch of 50km of the highway that runs along the Teesta, faces a tough job compared with the agencies that look after the highway in Sikkim where only a 12km stretch runs along the river.

“The officials working in Sikkim to maintain the highway also praised our effort in the joint WhatsApp group where we share all the information related to the highway,” said another official.

He pointed out that the NH10 got damaged in over 60 spots this year.

“In the middle of the rainy season, the PWD worked round the clock to open the highway and finally, light vehicles would be allowed from tomorrow. The Kalimpong district administration has been asked to deploy police personnel so that the remaining works can be carried out in the damaged stretches,” said
a bureaucrat.