Landslide caused a cave-in on NH55 at Tindharia kurseong

Siliguri, Sept. 28: A fresh landslide has caused a cave-in on NH55 at Tindharia this morning, creating uncertainty over the opening of the highway that connects Darjeeling with Siliguri and has been shut since June 16 last year.

The road along with the toy train tracks has collapsed along a 150-metre stretch, a repetition of what had happened at Paglajhora last year. At Paglajhora, a known sink zone, the road had given away along a stretch of 500 metres.

Since the earthquake on September 18, there have been instances of boulders and slush slipping down the hillside on NH55.

PWD engineers said the restoration would be difficult because though it takes only a few hours to clear debris, the road has altogether disappeared at Tindharia, like it did in Paglajhora.

“This will disrupt road connectivity between Siliguri and Tindharia through NH55,” Nirmal Mondal, the executive engineer of NH-IX division of the state PWD, said today.

“After a similar damage in Paglajhora last year, people from Siliguri could at least reach Tindharia through NH55. After today, this road cannot be used altogether. Unlike other places where debris can be cleared within hours, there is no sign of the road here.”

Paglajhora is about 35km from here and 5km from Tindharia.

The road at both the spots have to be built from below till the highway level, engineers said.

Since last year, all small vehicles have been travelling on the Sukna-Simulbari-Rohini-Kurseong route to reach Darjeeling. Although the route takes a little more than three hours — almost like NH55 — the road is narrow and dotted with potholes.

The problem is greater for heavy vehicles that have to go through the Sevoke-Mungpoo route to Darjeeling, the broadest after NH55 but it is more time and fuel-consuming. It takes at least six hours to reach Darjeeling through this route.

Mondal said if the rain continued, it would be difficult to restore the road by this year.

“We had almost finished working on the stretch at Paglajhora and had planned to allow traffic from September 25, but before that the earthquake struck. Since then, the frequency of debris and stones rolling down the hillside has increased in the area, creating pressure on the sink zone. If the downpour continues, the situation will worsen. It will be difficult for us to work in this weather. We have serious doubts if the highway can be opened by 2011,” Mondal said.

Scared by the fresh landslide at least 10 families with houses along the highway have shifted to “safer” places.

“This morning, around 10am when it was raining heavily, suddenly we heard a noise like something huge tumbling down. We rushed out of our homes and found that the road had gone down,” said Esther Sharma, who lives near the Hill Cart Road in Tindharia. 

TT