Heavy rains in the Darjeeling hills

Kurseong (Dist. Darjeeling) : One person was killed and several others were injured as landslides struck different places in Darjeeling hills today. Several houses were also damaged in the landslides, rendering many people homeless. The entire Darjeeling hills has remained cut off from the rest of the country following a series of landslides today.

Krishan Rai (35), a resident of Margaret Hope Tea Estate, around 16 kilometre away from Kurseong, died when his house caved in around 7 a.m. today, Mr Jagat Sango, a local gram panchayat official, said. He added that Sango's mother, wife and two children were rescued by the fire brigade personnel and the locals.

In another incident, a house was collapsed in a major landslide that occurred at Sherpa Busty near the Kurseong SDO's bungalow early this morning. The house belonged to one Mrs Savitri Sundas (50. There was, however, no report of any casualty as the occupants of the affected house were shifted to a safer place yesterday.

Mrs Sundas, however, blamed the Kurseong Municipal Corporation authorities for the incident. "The KMC constructed a wall near my house to protect the building of a local club. The protection wall was weak and it caved in today," she alleged. Mrs Sundas said cracks were spotted on the wall less than a month after its construction. "The residents of Sherpa Busty requested the KNMC authorities several times to repair the wall, but to no avail. The negligence of the authorities concerned finally led to our sufferings," she said.

The KMC vice-chairman, Mr Sanjay Chhetri, however, claimed that the wall was not constructed by them. "The protection wall of the club was actually built with the MPLAD funds. We only provided an engineer to oversee the construction," he said.
Mr Chhetri said that occupants of four other houses at Sherpa Busty have been instructed to vacate their houses and shift to safer places.

Meanwhile, traffic movement was paralysed on NH-55 near 14 Mile following a landslide today. At Sivatar Busty in Kurseong sub-division, a major landslide ocuured this morning. One Papila Rai (28) was injured in the incident. She is undergoing treatment at the Kurseong sub-divisional hospital.

Source: The Statesman