Road widening works end up constricting traffic, imperiling commuters ANAND OBEROI

GANGTOK, 25 June: Complaints of falling boulders and shooting debris at various spots along the national highway have been making news for quite a while now with damages to plying vehicles and traffic snarls being reported as well. The unpredictability of the road formations claimed three lives yesterday on the North Sikkim Highway when an entire rock face collapsed on a moving car at Tanek in North Sikkim above Dikchu. The incident reiterates the worry and danger that the road travel presents under the combined assault of monsoons and exposed and incomplete road widening works.

With the BRO workforce claiming to be carrying out back cutting and road widening works on “top priority” at the moment, the brunt of the incomplete works littered throughout the highway is borne by commuters especially now that the monsoon has broken over Sikkim.

Speaking to NOW! The BRO Director informs that the roads where the slides occur are cleared by the work gangs immediately as their top priority is to keep the roads open. Speaking on the Tanek incident the Director stated that the area where the slide had occurred required “time” for GREF manpower to reach and added that GREF personnel were now at the spot and working to clear the heavy debris that crushed a vehicle killing all of its occupants.

While refusing to comment directly on the manner in which BRO was executing its back cutting and road widening works here in the state he stated, “We are doing our duty.”

Meanwhile, apart from many cases of damages to vehicles, a few severe injuries reported on civilians and indiscriminate traffic jams due to the frequent road blocks along the highway because of the falling boulders, the local populace and those who ply along the highway on a daily basis have raised questions regarding their safety.

Tourists missing flights and trains due to the frequent blocks have become a common feature with the taxi operators stating that it is the “irresponsible and unsystematic” manner in which different sections of the highway have been excavated that is causing this dilemma amongst travelers at the moment.

“The BRO has excavated around five to six major portions between Gangtok and Rangpo alone and more on the national highway from Rangpo to Siliguri. This they do indiscriminately without actually completing one spot. Even if we negotiate one or three trouble spots safely, there are many such spots which are equally unpredictable with the rains now falling continuously,” complain members of the Sikkim Mainline taxi drivers association who also claim that this indiscriminate back-cutting works have given the tourism industry negative publicity in the past few years because of the inconvenience it causes commuters.

“Tourism can be hit severely if this continues as it is the people visiting the state who say that Sikkim is beautiful but the roads are just the opposite. Locals plying everyday on these roads could in time learn to live with this danger looming over their heads but the case is different for the people who come visiting,” state members of JN Road Taxi drivers association.

Speaking to NOW! earlier this week, stranded people along the highway between Singtam and Ranipool who had to wait for a huge boulder to be cleared by the BRO personnel that took almost two hours complained, “This is no way BRO should be allowed to leave these fragile rock faces scratched out like this. It is a dangerous proposition to travel in Sikkim during the monsoons as the hills above are giving way as the rains keep falling. If these works were carried out in a phased manner, this unpredictability of the main highway and other important roads like JN Road and the Mangan-Chungthang axis could be reduced to a huge extent.”

Similarly, drivers and passengers alike who ply along North Sikkim highway and JN Road  on a regular basis also highlight their resentment with the back cutting works being executed by BRO which as per them is proving to be a deterrent for tourists to visit Sikkim.

And the complaints don’t end here, there are many vehicles that have been either damaged partially or heavily by falling boulders, many of which have rolled straight into the vehicles below injuring passengers like incidents reported along the JN Road- Tsomgo- Baba Mandir axis. It may be informed that in some cases these injured individuals had to be rushed to the army hospitals, STNM Hospital, CRH, Tadong and Singtam District Hospital for emergency treatment for injuries sustained from the unstable and fragile rock face left exposed due to road widening works.

However, BRO officials contend here that every back-cutting and road widening works being carried out throughout the highway are being executed by different executing officers who as per the BRO will “continue with the works on priority basis.” The task is to keep the roads open and that the BRO will ensure, its officials state.

BRO officials also maintain that every project site has its own schedule of completion and will have to be completed as it is the BRO’s job to actually keep the highway open even after such instances of road blocks.