Gangtok, May 12: Around 2,000
tourists were stranded at 5th Mile in East Sikkim for four hours
yesterday after a portion of J.N. Marg was hit by a landslide.
Around 250
Gangtok-bound vehicles were coming back from Chhangu Lake and Baba
Mandir at 5pm yesterday when the landslide hit a portion of the road at
5th mile, around 25km from Gangtok. It was raining heavily when the
vehicles were coming back and a portion of the road was washed away by
the slide.
“We received
information that there was a landslide at 5th Mile and many tourists
were stranded. We immediately informed the army. There were no reports
of any tourists getting injured,” said a senior check post official.
According to
Passang Tamang, a tour operator who was also stuck on the highway there
were around 1,600 tourists from West Bengal.
The army reached
the spot by 5.30pm and started rescuing people. Tourists had to walk for
five minutes to cross the landslide-hit portion to go to the other end
of the road. This was done in batches. After the tourists crossed the
road one by one, they were put in army trucks and SUVs and taken to
Gangtok.
Gangtok man stalks woman, arrested
Gangtok, May 12: Sadar Police in Gangtok has arrested one Pratap Singh
Subba for allegedly stalking a woman and threatening her. The woman, a
resident of the Paljor Stadium area, filed an FIR at the Sadar police
station, stating that one person had been regularly following her with a
view to establish relations with her. The lady had lodged a general
diary against Subba for following her regularly. She has complained that
despite the general diary against him, the man frequently contacted
her. She has stated that on her refusal, he threatened her and her child
if she did not give in to his demands. It islearnt that the accused
holds a fake marriage certificate. SNS