In last few days has seen the beginning of the monsoon in the State of Sikkim and the young mountains have started sliding under the heavy rainfall. On the night of 15 June 2023 and the entire day of 16 June 23, due to the heavy rainfall, the road connecting Singtam – Dikchu – Rangran – Mangan –Chungthang has seen a number of landslides and washing away of the road.
The damage started at around 6:15 pm on 15 June on either side of Rangarang in Sikkim, when the road was blocked from both sides of the town due to landslides. The BRO Project Swastik sent its brave Karamyogis along with their heavy earthmoving equipment immediately on sites to clear the road block. These BRO Karamyogis worked in heavy rain in the danger of falling slide and boulders and opened the road for traffic by about 10:00 pm at night.
However, since the rain continued throughout the night, early morning again there was landslide close to Singtam and another landslide near Rangrang. This consisted of mainly loose stones and boulders which had slided from the mountain tops and covered the entire road, making it impassable for traffic. These stones, if fell on any vehicle or person could also cause damage / injury to them.
While the BRO Karamyogis were on war footing to clear these landslides and road blocks, a flash flood on road Mangan to Chungthang washed away a portion of the road and a small bridge along with it.
The BRO Karamyogis have opened the entire road in record time, working throughout the night and all through the day in inclement weather of heavy rain and the danger of shooting stones and landslides.
While the efforts of the BRO are commendable and as always, they would continue to keep the roads of Sikkim and North Bengal open, all tourists and locals are advised to avoid the routes of recurrent landslides during heavy rainfall times and are requested not to lineup on road blocks to prevent any injury to personnel and damage to vehicle due to sudden landslides/ flash floods.
PR Issued by Lt col Mahendra Rawat PRO DEFENCE
