Five feared killed in NH 31A road mishap SILIGURI BOUND VEHICLE FROM PAKYONG PLUNGES INTO TEESTA NEAR GEIL KHOLA

GANGTOK, 04 Oct: Five persons are feared dead while six others escaped with injuries when the Bolero (SK-01J-1900) they were traveling in plunged into the Teesta river after colliding head-on with a truck coming from the opposite direction. The accident occured near Geil Khola, West Benagl, along NH 31A under Kalimpong Police Station this morning.
Police sources in Kalimpong confirm that the accident occurred at around 9:30 AM when the Siliguri-bound jeep coming from Pakyong in East Sikkim collided head-on with the truck while reportedly trying to overtake another vehicle.
Following the collision, the ill-fated passenger vehicle fell about 100 feet off the road into the Teesta. The impact of the collision was so severe that even the frontend of the truck was completely smashed, it is learnt.
The vehicle was carrying 11 persons including the driver.
While the body of one of the casualties - Ram Krishna Rai, aged about 30, from Pachey-Samsing village in East Sikkim has been recovered, the bodies of four others feared dead are yet to be recovered, media reports informs.
Meanwhile, six other occupants of the vehicle managed to escape with injuries. The injured were rushed to Rambi block Primary Health Centre and were released after first aid.
The four feared dead are the driver of the vehicle, Tek Bahadur Bhujel, Deepak Gupta, Ganesh Gupta and Bilawal Hussein.
An injured passenger, Sayeed Alam, a construction worker at Pakyong, has been quoted in media reports as stating the vehicle was moving in high speed when it collided with the truck.
“Our vehicle was in full speed and was trying to overtake another jeep in front of us when it suddenly collided with a truck coming from the opposite direction after which our car took a tumble and rolled into the river. I broke the rear window to escape and swam to safety”.
Sahimidin Mia, a construction worker from Cooch Behar, who fractured his right hand, said, “When the vehicle hit the water I was thrown out and swam to the shore”.
“Four out of us five workers managed to escape but Bilawal Hussein is still missing,” informs Saheed Alam (17) of Islampur. The five work at a construction site in Pakyong and were travelling to their homes today.
The 21 year old driver of the truck has in the meanwhile been taken into custody while the Bolero was recovered at around 4 PM with the help of a recovery van and a rafting team.
Member of Pakyong Zilla Panchayat, Santosh Kr Gurung, CLC member of the ruling party, DB Gurung, SDF’s District convenor, TB Gurung and GM Gurung of Rhenock constituency along with owner of the vehicle, Usman Sheikh and relatives of the missing persons also reached the spot today.

Overnight rain brings down NH 31A in a heap of slides

ANAND OBEROI
SILIGURI, 14 Sept: Last night’s heavy rains lashed through the reckless back-cutting works along National Highway 31A littering landslides which threw up serpentine traffic snarls throughout the Gangtok-Siliguri stretch. It took most commuters up to 10 hours to make the Gangtok to Siliguri journey today as the negotiated the slides in one-way files as GREF personnel worked to clear the debris.
The first slide, while moving from Sikkim to Siliguri was near Kirney between Rangpo and Melli where nearly 50 meters of the road where back cutting works have been carried out came down in a heap of debris and trees that had blocked the road completely last night.
A little further, and another section of road about 6 kms ahead, near Chitrey, had also given way just short of Lepcha Jhora Bridge. After negotiating the uneven and dangerous active slides here, the traffic jammed again near Teesta and then a few more slides along the Luku Bhir stretch.
Agitated commuters were obviously frustrated, many pointing out that this state of the road so close to the Durga Puja tourist season did not bode well for the tourism sector in the entire region.
Minor slides littered the highway from Teesta to Sevoke with substantial blocks at 29 Mile, another back cutting spot just before Lohapool, and then at two spots near Kalijhora.
With a slight drizzle throughout today, crossing and negotiating the roads posed a risk as all the slides were unstable and rocks and debris kept on falling even as vehicles passed.
Even ambulances were stuck, as were people who had trains or flights to catch because someone who left Gangtok at 10 a.m. reached Siliguri only by 6p.m. today.

Landslide at Tarkhola cuts off Sikkim

SLIDE BLOCKS HIGHWAY AT 11 PM MONDAY NIGHT, CLEARED FOR ONE-WAY TRAFFIC AT 4 P.M. TUESDAY
GANGTOK, 17 July: Sikkim was cut off from the rest of the country for most of the day today following landslides on NH 31A at 10th Mile, Tarkhola in West Bengal beyond Rangpo towards Melli after heavy rains continued through the weekend.
Official sources from the Rangpo Police Station inform that hundreds of vehicles, mostly trucks and transport utility vehicles carrying supplies and essential commodities, were lined up on either side of the landslide that occurred at around 11PM last night. It is further informed that smaller passenger vehicles including taxis are plying the Rangpo- Monsoong-Kalimpong and Chitrey route to get to Siliguri. (The alternative route takes around 2 hours or more and is unfit for big vehicles to ply). The slide was eventually cleared at around 4 p.m. for one-way regulated traffic.
SNT trucks and buses that left for Siliguri this morning from Gangtok are informed to have returned back with the passengers opting to travel to Siliguri in smaller vehicles via the alternative route from Rangpo. Many passengers who went to the SNT bus stand this morning had to come down to the private bus stand since SNT did not send any more buses to Siliguri today. Passengers could be seen waiting for vehicles to get them to Siliguri through the alternative route at the Siliguri stand in Deorali today with many taxis staying off the road because of the glitches along the highway.  
Work gangs of the Border Road Organisation (BRO) were hard at work trying to clear the debris and eventually cleared it for one-way traffic at around 4 p.m. The fact that it did not rain the entire day helped in the road clearing works.

Skies open up, NH 31A slips out

ALL EIGHT TROUBLESPOTS ACTIVE, BIRIK DARA AHEAD OF LOHA POOL THE BIGGEST HEADACHE


ANAND OBEROI
GANGTOK, 08 July: With areas in Darjeeling district through which the NH 31A courses on the way to Siliguri receiving up to 24 cm of rain on a daily basis through most of last week, it was only a matter of time before the national highway started receiving slips and slides to stall traffic. And now the trouble-spots have started acting up with each one creating a traffic snarl of its own as GREF workers and machines clear the slush and debris.
The most imposing slide this season has been the one at Birik Dara, about an hour’s drive out of Siliguri [slightly short of Lohapool] while proceeding towards Sikkim. The slope above the highway here failed on 05 July and refused vehicular crossover for 24 hours. The 120 metre stretch remains active and unstable and requires constant pressing of men and machinery to keep clear. A considerable section of the highway on the valley side has also slipped away here with dislodged sections of retaining walls poking through the slush below.
GREF (BRO) has deployed five JCB excavators, hundreds of laborers, trucks and bulldozers at this section but this remains a bottleneck with waits of more than 2 hours becoming a routine delay for commuters here.
Met officials at the spot informed now that three districts of West Bengal – Darjeeling, Jalpaiguri and Coochbehar – have been receiving extremely heavy rainfall through the past week and add that the forecast for the coming week suggests that the weather pattern will continue. Even they advise against travel on NH 31A after dark, explaining that with heavier downpours forecast for the night-time, the slide zones are bound to act up, making such travel risky.
Daytime travel, while safer, is only tortuous for the long waits that one-way traffic over the trouble zones [the worst being Birik Dara] working in fits and starts in between BRO work on clearing the debris. Traffic jams snake upto seven kilometers on both sides at this spot sometimes.
Earlier, even transhipment was not an option since the slide was too dangerously active, throwing down boulders and slush on a regular basis, To avoid the traffic snarls, several drivers are opting for the Lava, Kalimong detour which takes about three hours longer than the normal travel time. Needless to add, complaints of overcharging have also coming up in this regard.
“We have issued warnings to all concerned authorities of very heavy rains forecast for the weeks ahead. Continuous torrential downpours have wreaked havoc at almost all the eight declared trouble-spots on NH 31A with new slides and mud-slips getting reported with every rain. Vehicular movement is definitely going to get disrupted,” Darjeeling district police personnel deployed at Birik Dara to manage traffic and people said.

HC records displeasure over slow progress of NH 31A works

GANGTOK, 06 July: The High Court of Sikkim has recorded its displeasure over the slow pace of progress of works on the National Highway 31 A. The Court had taken suo moto cognizance of the sorry state of affairs relating to the maintenance and improvement of the national highway and has been hauling up the state administration and other agencies, including the Border Roads Organisation and other central government agencies, over the apparent lack of urgency in their efforts towards such an important component of national security. The primary stumbling block in the progress of works seems to be the process of receiving forest clearances and also the bureaucracy’s tendency to keep decisions pending. 
In this regard, the Court noted that some decisions have been pending for two years with the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways and Indian Railways as also the Director General of BRO.
“The Court has no option but to record its displeasure,” it stated.
The court further directed that all concerned agencies to finalise the decision making process and issue appropriate sanction/ direction within 2 months with monthly progress report to be submitted to the court.
In its order dated 02 July, 2012, the High Court noted, from the progress report submitted by Director, Works of Project Swastik, on the construction works on the national highway, that though there was some progress at various places “…we are at pain to say that various agencies are totally lackluster in taking their decision particularly  in regard to grant of clearance by the Wildlife, Forest and Land Acquisition at various levels”.
With Mile 27 of NH 31A under the maintenance of the NHPC due to the Teesta HEP there, the Court directed that NHPC be impleaded as a party to the proceedings.
While progress of works at 27 Mile has been shown as 50% complete, there was no indication as to when they would be completed. Similarly, the Court noted that 9 Mile beyond Ranipool which is a sinking zone is be maintained by the state PWD. However, there were no details as to the status of the work and whether it had been sanctioned or not.

SLUDGED OUT

GANGTOK, 20 April: Sludge from the Army compound just above National Highway 31A near Sikkim Jewels in Tadong last evening disturbed traffic flow along the stretch last night and early this morning. A joint effort by Tadong Outpost personnel, Traffic Police personnel and GREF workers managed to clear some of the sludge on the road to allow vehicular movement at around 8 AM. Traffic, however, remained affected throughout the day.

Driver killed in accident near Kirney

GANGTOK, 21 Dec: One person was killed in a motor accident on National Highway 31A early this morning. According to reports, the accident occurred at around 5 a.m. this morning when a Taverra vehicle plunged about 300 feet down into the Teesta between Melli and Rangpo.

Former Minister proposes new route for alternative highway

CORONATION BRIDGE-BAGRAKOTE-SAILUNG-RISHI-RORATHANG-BHASMAY-SARAMSA AXIS MORE FEASIBLE AND ECONOMICAL THAN ALL OTHER OPTIONS, CLAIMS JB PRADHAN
GANGTOK, 15 Nov: Former Minister, JB Pradhan, a civil engineer by training, has proposed a route, different from those proposed by the West Bengal Government and the BRDF, for the construction of an alternative highway linking Sikkim to the rest of the country.

Dry slide holds up NH31A

GANGTOK, 14 Nov: A landslide at 10th Mile,Tar Khola, which collapsed on NH 31A at around noon today, disrupted traffic for around 2 hours this afternoon, with GREF personnel engaged at the spot, opening the highway for traffic at around 1 50 pm. Vehicles coming from Gangtok were given the first pass across but the crossing was still risky with loose rubble slipping down frequently.

Gangtok-bound vehicle falls into Teesta at Chitrey, driver killed

GANGTOK, 30 Oct: A driver was died on the spot when a vehicle met with an accident near Chitrey on NH 31A in West Bengal in the early hours this morning. The vehicle fell off around 100 feet down the road into the Teesta near Chitrey at around 2:30 AM, it is learnt. The vehicle, it is informed, was coming to Gangtok from Siliguri. It is further informed that the driver died on the spot and other passengers were evacuated to Kalimpong hospital.

SHRPP burns CM’s effigy to protest new Bill

GANGTOK, 14 Aug: Sikkim Himali Rajya Parishad Party workers to burned an effigy of the Chief Minister today to register their protest against the “Sikkim Prevention and Control of Disturbance of Public Order Bill” tabled in the Legislative Assembly. The incident played out at around 1 p.m. here at Sisha Golai on National Highway 31A.
SHRPP party workers wearing black bands also shouted slogans against the CM and demanded the withdrawal of the Bill.
Subsequently, eight party workers were detained by the Sadar Thana police team. They are - Om Prakash Bista, LM Subba, Gobind Sharma, MB Rai, Gyalpo Tamang, Gopal Chettri, Dhan Bahadur Mangar and Binod Chettri.
Traffic on the highway was disrupted for around 20 minutes because of the incident.

Precarious sink on NH 31A in Gangtok awaits coordination to allow repairs

ANAND OBEROI
GANGTOK, 09 Aug: Driving along NH-31A especially in and around Gangtok has renamed an ordeal for quite some time now. Large pot-holes, slush and debris from the temporary patch works makes negotiating vehicles an uncomfortable endeavor here in the capital of the state.
With a major section of road hanging in precarious condition here in Hospital Dara, the busiest part of town, officials from the GREF, Sikkim Police and the line departments and BSNL visited the spot today and tried chalking out a way to solve the problem which is now an “emergency.” 

9 injured as speeding jeep collides with truck on NH31A

GANGTOK, 01 Aug: A head-on collision between a Mahindra Savari taxi and a truck at the turning near Orange Villa here at 7th Mile below Gangtok on NH 31-A this afternoon has left nine persons, including the driver, injured.
The taxi [SK-04-8816] driven by Durga Bahadur Lohar was on its way to Sang from Gangtok and was over-speeding when it hit the truck [SK-03-1423] coming up from Ranipool. The taxi over-turned after hitting the truck, causing injuries to the eight passengers inside.

10 Mile slide forces overnight block on NH 31A

GANGTOK, 22 July: The stretch of NH 31A between Rangpo and Singtam was hit by a series of landslides at around 10 p.m. which held up traffic for 11 hours. The more severe of the slides was at 10th Mile near Baghey Khola [see pic]. 
A substantial portion of the protection wall above the road and a huge tree were brought down by the slide, damaging high tension electricity transmission lines.

Likhu Bhir acts up, stalls traffic on NH31A

ANAND OBEROI
GANGTOK, 20 July:  Monsoon-induced disruptions on National Highway 31-A have returned, with various spots on the Siliguri-Gangtok stretch blocked because of landslides. After shutting down the highway for over 12 hours at Rambi in the West Bengal side on 17 June last month, the rains once again disrupted traffic along the highway, and this time for over 20 hours and at two different trouble-spots.
Speaking to NOW! this afternoon, the Gorkha Janmukti Chalak Mahasangh [GJCM], president, Milan Pradhan, informed that NH-31A was blocked at a spot around 200 meters from the Teesta bridge towards Siliguri. The spot near the Shiv Mandir at the infamous Likhu Bhir is informed to have lost a section of the road to heavy rains.