Back-cutting collapses on NH 31 A, again

GOLITAR SLIDE FORCES TRANSHIPMENT ON COMMUTERS; CABBIES GRAB OPPORTUNITY TO FLEECE 
GANGTOK, 13 June: Back cutting along National Highway 31A at Golitar, a few kilometers away from Singtam bazaar, triggered a mudslide which blocked the National Highway at 3:40 PM this afternoon.
One JCB belonging to Project Swastik of the Border Road Organisation was buried under the debris. The driver of the JCB managed to escape in time, informed Police Inspector of Singtam Police Station, Chundi Chopel.
Two children, however, sustained minor injuries as large rocks and mud came down on the road. They were treated at Singtam District Hospital. Sikkim police, GREF and BRO officials were engaged in clearing the road for normal traffic. Weather and the degraded alignment permitting, traffic was expected to be restored by late in the evening.
This is the second incident in three days where mudslides and falling boulders caused by back-cutting related for road-widening works by Project Swastik having disrupted traffic between Singtam and Rangpo.
Commuters were severely inconvenienced today as well. Taking advantage of the situation, Singtam taxi drivers were seen charging commuters double the normal fares to run the transshipment route.
Members of the Taxi Drivers’ Association of Singtam avoided media persons as reporters tried to question them on their responsibility towards addressing the indiscriminate hike in rates this afternoon. Local taxis plying from Singtam and Gangtok agreed to take passengers only if the entire taxi was reserved or were charging fares of Rs 80-100 per passenger if on share basis [from Singtam to Gangtok], against the normal rate of Rs. 40 per passenger. This usury in the face of the fact that most commuters had already paid up the entire fare for the journey to vehicles they had to abandon on the far side of the slide!