Kurseong section of NH55 or the Hill Cart Road repair set back by a year

Darjeeling, Feb. 17.TT: The national highway linking Siliguri and Darjeeling will remain closed for at least one more year as the Centre is yet to firm up a proposal for the reconstruction of the road at two spots which are prone to landslides.

Traffic along the Siliguri-Kurseong section of NH55 or the Hill Cart Road has been suspended after 500 metres of the road had collapsed at Paglajhora in June 2010. Apart from Paglajhora, Tindharia along the highway is also a cave-in zone.

The delay in the repair of the road is an indication of the mammoth challenge landslides have posed to the Union ministry of surface transport which is still pondering over different options for the reconstruction.

A Delhi-based consultancy firm, LEA Associates South Asia Pvt Ltd (LASA), had earlier been entrusted by the ministry with the task of recommending measures for the restoration of NH55.

Nirmal Mondal, executive engineer, NH Division IX of the public works department, said: “LASA had suggested in early January that a geo-grid approach be adopted to reconstruct the highway (at Paglajhora and Tindharia). The cost of the repair was pegged at around Rs 70 crore.”

The geo-grid entails the construction of a concrete wall along the slope to reinforce the soil over which the road will be built using boulders and other materials.

Paglajhora is 50km from Darjeeling and Tindharia is further 5km downhill.

Even when the LASA proposal was under consideration, the ministry deputed experts from the Japan International Co-operation Agency (JICA) and the National Institute of Disaster Management (NIDM) for a field visit to Paglajhora and Tindharia on Sunday to make their observations.

Members from the Japan-based National Institute for Land and Infrastructure Management, and Public Works Research Institute were part of the team. Even though the experts from the JICA and the NIDM conducted only an initial study, indications are that they are not very comfortable with the proposal made by the LASA.

“We have only made a preliminary observation and a detailed study needs to be conducted at the sites. The team has certain questions over the erection of a huge retention wall. We will make our recommendation in one week,” Chandan Ghosh, professor and head of the geo hazards department of the NIDM, told The Telegraph.The NIDM is under the Union home ministry.

The Japanese experts feel that the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway lines should be realigned and tunnelled through the hill at Tindharia. The other suggestion was the construction of an overhead bridge along the highway to skirt the landslide-prone spot at Tindharia.

However, Ghosh offered a solution to landslides at Paglajhora and Tindharia. “If the drainage system is improved at the two spots, the area will be more stable and this would solve 70-80 per cent of the landslide problem. The cost of improving the drainage system would not even touch the Rs 1 crore mark,” said Ghosh.

The PWD officials said the ministry might draw up the final proposal for the repair after taking into consideration various parameters like construction cost, time needed to complete the project and engineering feasibility.

“It is the prerogative of the ministry to decide on the kind of project to be taken up for the restoration of NH55. Since the ministry will bear the entire cost of the repair, it will take a final decision,” said a PWD official.

With the Hill Cart Road being closed, vehicles travelling between Siliguri and Darjeeling take the route via Mirik and Mungpoo.