Bridges in North Sikkim washed away

Gangtok , Sikkim : A flash flood in the Teesta washed away two adjacent Bailey bridges in Zema, North Sikkim, yesterday afternoon, cutting off the frontier outpost from the rest of the state.

Around 400 families from Lachen who practise shifting cultivation live in the highlands during this season and are stuck there, along with the army personnel posted on the border.

The road over the bridges goes up to Thangu and Gurudongmar lake close to the Chinese border.

Lachen is located 4km from where the bridges stood. The river is called Lachen Chu in the region.

The army and the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) have been asked to provide relief to the families, district collector (North) T.N. Kazi told The Telegraph over phone from Mangan, the district headquarters.

Kazi visited the spot today along with the Pipon (headman) of Lachen.

The cause of the flash flood is yet to be identified. While some spoke of a sudden melting of the Zemu glacier leading to a rise in the water level, others said a landslide triggered the flood.

Kazi said the army has decided to conduct an aerial survey to find the cause.

Soon after the bridges in Zema were washed away yesterday, a high alert was sounded and there was panic at Chungthang, a subdivisional town further downstream. Some livestock had been washed away by the river above Chungthang, though no human casualties have been reported.

Some families living along the river were evacuated.

Though Border Roads Organisation (BRO) has already started repair work, restoration of the road link would take at least a month.

The district administration, along with the army and the BRO, are also scouting for alternative routes to get to Zema.

Last week, a similar flash flood on the Tholung river (Rongyong Chu) swept away four surveyors hired by Himagiri Private Limited, which is developing the 280mw Panan hydel power project in the region.

Source: The Telegraph

North Sikkim village demand subsidised electricity rate

Gangtok, Sikkim: People of a village in North Sikkim have demanded that electricity generated by a hydel power project in the area be distributed for community development at the rate of one paise per unit.

Residents of Shipgyer, where the 1,200mw Teesta Stage III is coming up, have already asked the district collector to take up their cause with the project authorities. The villagers want the power to be utilised for “local area development”.

They said the claim was based on a policy of the Union ministry of power and energy. According to a new electricity act, authorities of any hydel power project have to distribute power at the rate of one paise per unit for the local people. The electricity cannot be used for personal consumption, but for community development.

The villagers said their demand was over and above the 12 per cent free power given to the state by Teesta Urja, the consortium of companies developing the project.

Source: The Telegraph