Stakeholders want Gangtok-Dikchu old route restored

MANGAN, 31 Jan: The Mangan-Gangtok drive, which takes 3 hours at present, will be cut down to an hour-long drive if the old route via Lingdok 9th Mile and Penlong is restored. The people from different blocks and GPUs here have unanimously demanded that this route be restored to facilitate development.
This issue was raised by the people of Navey Shotak, Lingdok, 9th Mile, Dikchu, Mangan, Dzongu and North Sikkim where they stated that restoring the old route will make travel and access more convenient for the people.  
The old route, which was a mule track originally, was severely damaged by the 1968 floods and landslides especially between Dikchu and Lingdok 9th Mile. Around 80% of the old road formation however still exists so it would not take much to restore the entire stretch. However, three bridges need to be constructed at Rakshey Khola, Hem Khola and Andheri Khola.
As per a departmental survey, only 7km of the road needs to be rebuilt. Some sections of the road starting from Dikchu have also been constructed by power project developers.
Many villagers from the periphery of Dikchu trek to Gangtok along this route which normally takes two hours to reach Fatak, Bojoghari.