A 60-metre stretch of NH10 caved in at Birikdara near Sevoke on Thursday morning, bringing to a complete halt the traffic till Teesta Bazar on the road that connects Sikkim and Kalimpong district with the rest of the country.

The Bengal public works department’s NH division which maintains a 52km stretch of the highway could not initiate the repairs because of constant rain.

“No space is left for traffic on NH10 along the stretch where the road caved in,” said an official of the state PWD.

After the cave-in, vehicles cannot move along NH10’s 35km-long stretch from Sevoke to Teesta Bazar. The highway is, however, open beyond Teesta Bazar.

The highway had closed down at some locations because of frequent landslides in the past few months. Vehicles had to take turnaround
routes and cover an additional 70km to reach Siliguri from Kalimpong, Sikkim, and vice-versa.

A PWD official said the restoration work was expected to begin on Friday.