NH31A disconnected due to Landslip

Kalimpong : Traffic through NH31A, that connects Sikkim and Kalimpong with the rest of the country, was disrupted early in the morning today following a fresh landslip at Chitrey, about 14km from here.

Continuous overnight rain caused the landslide at the same spot, which had breached about 20 days ago. The site is a short distance from where the state highway to Kalimpong branches off from the national highway.

“Following a fresh breach, traffic had to be closed for about four hours between 5am to 8.45am. We, subsequently, allowed light vehicles to pass,” said an official of the Border Roads Organisation (BRO), which maintains NH31A. However, for about one-and-half hours in the afternoon, traffic was stopped to enable workers cut the opposite side of the hill to increase the road width. Some of the commuters went over to the other side on foot and availed of vehicles from there.

Till evening, however, the road had not been opened to heavy vehicles that had by then formed a long queue on either side of the road.

“I have been stranded since 10am, and by the looks of it, we may have to spend the entire night here,” said Rajen Rai, one of the truck drivers waiting in the queue.

After the first landslip, the BRO had started work on laying wire-crates filled with boulders at the landslip site to act as a retention wall. A retention wall is built on the side of the road to stop the soil from slipping away. However, all that was washed way in last night’s rain.

“We will begin constructing the retention wall again in a couple of days time. However, we have no intention of cutting the hillside any more,” said the official.

Source: The Telegraph