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.” 
Such is the state of the roads in the heart of Gangtok that an entire section of road and the culvert above the STNM Hospital jhora can give way and collapse at any moment. The precariously aligned road above the jhora that is a major disaster waiting to happen. Similarly, another area is the road section just opposite Bansilal petrol pump is in no better condition either.
“We are ready to repair the entire road section here which will take us only a week but there are a lot of procedural formalities which need to be completed first. With BSNL having ten thousand cables and the other line departments like Power, PHE having more than twenty-thousand cables, pipes and sewerage lines. It has become impossible for us to carry out any repair works without the coordinated effort of all these departments,” informs RA Khural, O.C.129 RCC, GREF.
He added that, even two years of negotiates and meetings between all concerned has not worked out a concrete plan to solve this mess. The GREF officer also informs that they have written official letters to the concerned departments and also held a joint inspection at the spots. He adds that if the concerned departments do not find out a correct way to coordinate efforts there was little the GREF could do.
“How can the GREF work without a coordinated effort since there are so many departments involved here? Water supply lines, sewerage, telephone cables and power lines, every major supply system facilitating Gangtok is  laid in these few important locations where the roads are giving-up. We want to carry out repairs but then there has to be a joint effort. If we get the green signal we can clear and repair these sections within a week,” added the GREF OC.
According to the GREF officer, carrying out concrete works, like road carpeting during this season is unfeasible which is why only patch-up works are being carried out. However, the major problem for the GREF is maintaining the highway stretch through the capital where simultaneous digging by different line departments is a regular affair, which is also majorly discouraging the GREF to carry out any permanent work even after the monsoons are over.
Meanwhile, the HDO, Phones/SDO, Cables, Gangtok, BSNL, BK Barai has informed that the engineering cell of the BSNL is ready to execute the works in the coming days which is a very complicated affair since they shall have to first dig and build a small tunnel a little below the culvert to hold all the 10,000 cable lines. He also informed that major telephone cables were installed here about 20 years back.
“It is a very difficult proposition to work on the spot since the entire capital and surrounding areas rely on this supply. What I mean to say is that even broadband, mobile connectivity including networks of other mobile service operators will be completely disrupted; if we do the work without planning, communication in Sikkim shall be cut-off” states Mr.Barai.
Present on the spot today were officers and engineers of some of the line departments who while speaking to this correspondent stated, “It is too early for us to say anything, but this is important and we shall take it up on priority basis and hold meetings soon. This is serious business since this is the hub of all supply lines. If it is not done in a systematic manner then moving the cables will be impossible.” 
The GREF official also informed that works all along Bye- Pass will also be repaired after the monsoons as heavy rains are posing to be a big problem. GREF has also prepared a pre- cast, funds have been separated and plans prepared.