Landslide blocks Sikkim highway - Commuters take 2-hour detour via Kalimpong to reach Sikkim

Gangtok, July 17.TT: A landslide near the Bengal-Sikkim border at Rangpo last night kept the main NH31A route to the hill state blocked for nearly 17 hours. The highway that connects Sikkim with the rest of the country was cleared for traffic at 4pm today.

Over 500 vehicles entering Gangtok were stranded because of the slide but most of them took a longer route via Kalimpong to enter Sikkim which requires two extra hours of driving. Most of the people stranded there were local residents travelling from Siliguri to Gangtok. This is not the tourist season so the chances of travellers being stranded because of a landslide are low.

The landslide happened at a place called Tarkhola, which is 6km from the Sikkim border at Rangpo. The place is in Kalimpong subdivision.

“The landslide occurred on Monday around 11pm. A portion of land above the road slipped and fell on the highway, resulting in the traffic mess,” an official of the Border Roads Organisation’s 87 Road Construction Company, which looks after this stretch, said.

“The work for restoration of the highway began in the morning and it may take another couple of hours to clear the road for normal traffic,” the BRO official said over phone this afternoon.

“It takes almost two hours more to reach Rangpo via Kalimpong and it is the only road that links Sikkim to the country other than the National Highway,” said driver Madan Sherpa at the Gangtok Mainline Taxi Stand.

Commuters who reached Gangtok in the afternoon said they had to shell out Rs 60 more for the trip.

“We were told to pay Rs 60 more by the driver. We did so. How long could we wait in the long queue when the possibility of the road getting cleared were slim,” said Sharda Rai who had left for Gangtok from Siliguri at 7am today.

If roads are clear, a drive from Siliguri to Gangtok takes nearly five hours. The stipulated fare from Siliguri to Gangtok in a share taxi is Rs 150.

Asked about the extra charge cabs were demanding, the president of Sikkim Mainline Taxi Drivers’ Association, Dilip Tamang, said the drivers need the extra cash as they have covered more distance today to bring commuters to Gangtok, but they must not charge more than Rs 60.