Sikkim NOW!

INTO THE SLIDE: The Jawaharlal Nehru Marg from Gangtok to Tsomgo and on to Nathula has always been susceptible to slides which slip out consistently with every monsoon. The September 2011 earthquake has further weakened the slopes and the biggest challenge for Project Swastik of the Border Roads Organisation, under whose watch all the strategic roads in Sikkim fall, is a 200 metre slope failure at 17 Mile en route to Tsomgo. Negotiating this stretch even on rain-free days is harrowing and the importance of keeping this road open is forcing some out of the box thinking. As the above picture illustrates, a new alignment is being bulldozed through the slide even as a lost section of original road can be spied on the lower left corner.