64 tourists evacuated as rescue ops begins, BRO restoring road communication in North Sikkim

Syllad | The Rising MeghalayaJune 17, 2024

Altogether 64 tourists, mostly students have been rescued by road from Toong in North Sikkim’s Mangan district as the evacuation of stranded tourists began in the flood and landslide-affected Himalayan state on Monday.

More than 1,200 tourists, including 15 foreigners have been stranded in Mangan district since June 12 and rain-induced landslides cut off all road communication of the district with the rest of the state.

However, Mangan district magistrate Hem Kumar Chettri, who also led the evacuation process, said 50 tourists have been evacuated till the evening.

No tourists have been allowed to be moved from Chungthang and Lachung. Many tourists are accommodated in Chungthang Gurudwara, some in other houses and maximum of them have been sent back to Lachung.

“Despite inclement weather throughout the day, around 64 tourists have been rescued and moved to Mangan. The rescue operation has been halted due to inclement weather and remaining tourists will be evacuated tomorrow and the day after,” a senior official of the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) said.

“The evacuation operation was supported by the Mangan district administration along with the NDRF team,” the official said.

Since June 12, all major roads leading to North Sikkim have experienced multiple heavy slides and formation breaches, resulting in the severing of complete connectivity to North Sikkim since June 12.

The situation became grave after the collapse of the newly constructed suspension bridge at Sanklang as the entire connectivity to North Sikkim and Dzongu region was through this bridge. In response to this natural disaster, despite severe weather conditions and heavy rainfall in the region, BRO swung into restoration efforts by mobilizing huge manpower and machinery to restore connectivity to North Sikkim at the earliest.

“The BRO personnel restored vital connectivity between Chungthang and Mangan via the recently-constructed bridge at Toong over river Teesta. Swift and efficient response by the team of 758 BRTF under Project Swastik restored vital connectivity,” the BRO official said.

However, all major roads leading to North Sikkim like Dikchu-Sanklang-Toong, Mangan-Sanklang, Singtham-Rangrang, and Rangrang-Toong have been still blocked for traffic movement due to landslides. The rain-induced flash floods also triggered by heavy monsoon rains, swept through several regions of Sikkim, causing widespread destruction to homes, infrastructure, and livelihoods.

Meanwhile, Brigadier Manoj Gupta, chief engineer Project Swastik of BRO along with his team of officers has carried out a detailed report of flood-devastated areas of Sikkim.

“Plan for early restoration of road axis to Mangan and methodology of deploying more resources were assessed by having a look at the landslides and breached areas. Work on constructing Toe walls using Gabbion Basket is underway from the Dikchu end. Work to restore the road from Dikchu to Rangrang is under progress on war footing,” the official said.

“The main challenge is overcoming a 180-meter deep breach and damage to road formation caused by the infamous Namak Nullah ahead of Dikchu. To ensure faster connectivity to Mangan, the PWD has to open a route from Rangrang to Mangan as this stretch is not under the area of responsibility of BRO. BRO has assured all assistance in terms of manpower and machinery to PWD Dept in opening the road,” the official also said.

The BRO also deployed multiple heavy machinery and hundreds of labourers to clear the numerous slides on various roads in the Mangan district.

“BRO cleared multiple slides along Sanklang-Toong road and made it traffic-worthy for light vehicles. Similarly, the road stretch between Naga and Lanthakhola(on Mangan–Chungthang road) has been cleared and the road has been made traffic-worthy. However, due to massive formation breach at Lanthakhola and Rafangkholatraditional slide points have suffered massive formation breach,” the official further said.

“Heavy equipment has been deployed to restore vehicular connectivity across these slide points at the earliest. However, by constructing a log bridge, foot connectivity across these slide points has been achieved. Painstaking efforts are being made by BRO to rescue stranded tourists from North Sikkim at the earliest,” he said.

“Teams of BRO are working in the adverse weather conditions and under continuous rainfall to ensure that the lifeline of North Sikkim is restored to its previous state,” he added.