The Sikkim government has announced plans to open a fair-weather alternative road to north Sikkim within a fortnight even as the state struggles to restore the roads following the devastation caused by the glacial lake outburst flood (GLOF) in October 2023.

Recently, even Union minister Rajnath Singh could not reach north Sikkim either by air or by road.

N.B. Dahal, the Sikkim minister for roads and bridges, said on Sunday that the government’s focus was to establish good connectivity to the border area because of security concerns.

“Our department, along with the army and the GREF (a wing of the army) are working in tandem to establish good connectivity to the borders for security reasons and also to ease the problems that the locals have been facing,” Dahal told this newspaper on Sunday.

Following the GLOF, north Sikkim is accessible only from the circuitous Dikchu route through Dzongu and not the widely used Mangan-Chungthang route.

“We will open a fair weather alternative route to north Sikkim (along the Mangan-Chungthang stretch) within a fortnight. However, since this is a fair weather road it cannot be expected to withstand the wrath of monsoons,” said Dahal.

The new route will connect Chungthang town in north Sikkim from a village called Naga.

The village is 15 kilometers from Mangan, the district headquarters.

“This alternative route will cut travel time by more than two hours from the present Dzongu route,” said a Sikkim resident.

Tourists, however, have not been given permission to visit popular places in north Sikkim like Lachen and Lachung.

“At the moment our focus is on national security and to ease the hardship of the locals residing there,” said Dahal.

With road conditions hitting hard by GLOF Sikkim is struggling in tourism. “There are more than 300 hotels in the northern part of the state all of which are closed,” said Dahal. The tourist flow in the rest of the state has also dipped primarily due to road conditions and closure of north Sikkim.

Sikkim chief minister Prem Singh Tamang (Golay) had stated that Sikkim would need at least Rs 3673.25 crore for recovery and reconstruction.

“I presented (to the Prime Minister) the Post Disaster Need Assessment report, estimating Rs 3673.25 crore for recovery and reconstruction, and emphasised the need for continued support,” Golay had earlier said. The GLOF had washed away 33 bridges and a hydel project.

The high court of Sikkim has also warned to direct disciplinary proceedings against concerned officials if the road repairing work does not improve drastically.

The matter was taken up by the divisional bench consisting of Chief Justice Biswanath Somadder and Justice Meenakshi Madan Rai recently.

The additional advocate general has been directed to inform the high court during the next hearing whether repairs on a list of roads had commenced or not. The matter will be again heard on December 12.