Gangtok: Fresh landslides, triggered by heavy rains in the past couple of days, have wreaked havoc in north Sikkim with several roads, bridges and houses getting damaged and communication links getting cut off to the rest of the country.
The road between Mangan and Chungthang has been particularly affected by landslides at several places; some sources say it will take about a month to open the road for vehicular traffic. Many school buildings have been damaged due to which the administration has ordered the closure of some of these institutions.
Due to the incessant rains, heavy bridges and culverts have also been washed away. On Thursday, a bridge over Rafong Khola between Mangan and Chungthang collapsed, although a log bridge was later put up for emergency evacuation.
However, there is no information on loss of human lives so far, as per reports.
Some sources say at least 50 houses have been partially or fully damaged by the landslides reported from Dzongu, Mangan, Lachen and Mangshilla in North district of the Himalayan since Sunday.
Fresh landslides were reported at Passingdong village in Dzongu. The residents of the houses that are in danger have been shifted to safer locations.
To help the affected people, the district administration has set up control rooms and disaster helplines.
State forest minister and local MLA TW Lepcha and Deputy Speaker of state assembly Sonam Gyatso Lepcha visited the affected areas in and around Mangan with the district collector, divisional forest officer (DFO) and other officials on Saturday. The team also visited various flood- and landslide-affected areas.
Various agencies like the Border Roads Organisation, the road and bridges department and the PMGSY department are carrying out road restoration works in the district.
