The second bridge on Teesta River has been completed a day before the deadline.
Nearly a month after the glacial lake outburst and the dam breach at Chungthang on October 4 in North Sikkim that devastated the state with bridges, homes and roads being washed away by floodwaters, finally connectivity is being restored with a huge effort by the government and the military which has been re-constructing bridges to ensure movement of vehicles.
National Highway 10 has also opened for traffic with restrictions and today another major route has been re-opened with connectivity to Namchi District from Gangtok District being restored through the deck slab on the barrage of Teesta Stage VI Hydro Electricity Power Dam of NHPC located in Sirwani in Namchi District.
The Superintendent of Police Gangtok and Namchi have ordered the opening of the route with restrictions. The timing of traffic movement on the deck slab of the barrage has been regulated.
Namchi District Magistrate M Bharani Kumar said that following the flashflood of October 4, the LD Kazi Bridge located at Sirwani was washed away.
"Following the washing away of the LD Kazi bridge the connectivity of East District with South District was disrupted", Mr Kumar said.
He added, "The work on connectivity of the two districts was initiated since October 4 itself. It took almost 25 days to complete. On October 29, the Namchi district administation carried out trial run along the deck slab, after successful run of the trial the same was opened for public. The deck slab connectivity would only be used to ferry Light Motor Vehicle whereas for emergency vehicles the same will be made operational. There is timing for operation of the vehicles along the deck slab at Stage VI HEP of NHPC following the construction of the dam site too".
The Trishakti Corps of the Indian Army have also been instrumental in building several Bailey Bridge to restore roads in the flood-ravaged state. From restoring connectivity to the worst-hit North Sikkim to opening up critical roads, the military has worked round the clock to bring back a semblance of normalcy.
To restore connectivity between Mangan in north Sikkim to Saklang, the second bridge on Teesta River was completed a day before the deadline. The bridge was constructed to connect Mangan to Sanklang on 26 October 23 in just four days. The first bridge was completed on 22nd October 23.