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Sikkim: 100 Crore Estimate to Centre for Road Restoration

  • After causing large scale devastation and loss of lives, the massive earthquake, which had rocked the State on the 18th of September, is now set to delay the execution of various ongoing development projects .While the Chief Minister himself has on many occasions expressed apprehensions that the earthquake may delay the completion of power projects at least by one year, the Border Roads Organization too is apprehensive of the ongoing projects not getting completed on schedule, the year 2015.
  • The Project Swastik of Border Roads organization (BRO) would be requiring almost 18 months for restoring road connectivity fully along North Sikkim Highway and Jawaharlal Nehru (JN) Margh (Gangtok-Nathula road) back to its pre-earthquake status. Slides triggered by the September 18th earthquake had caused multiple disruptions, major and minor, besides washing away road links at many places along these two highways which has dual importance of strategic position and tourism. These highways allow movement of armed forces to areas bordering China and tourists to major tourism destinations like Yumthang Valley in North and Nathula La border in East district.
  • The NH 31A, which connects Sikkim with the rest of the country, was not much affected by the earthquake and was restored the very next day of the quake. The 60 kms long JN Marg had been restored on September 29 while the North Sikkim highway (180 km) was restored in the second week of October. But as Project Swastik officials here inform, these were temporary restorations enabling traffic movement for the time being. “The full restoration is going to be a very tough job. It will take us almost one and half years to get back to the pre-earthquake status”, said a top BRO official. He said that its heavy machinery including 37 excavators and manpower were deployed to the maximum levels to restore road links after the earthquake. “All our machinery and man were overused during the restoration works.Most of these machines are in need of extensive repairs and we are looking for replacements. Our higher authorities have assured to provide new machines and funds”, said the official.
  • The Project Swastik has submitted an initial estimate of Rs. 100 crores to the Centre for full restoration of damaged roads along the JN Marg and North Sikkim Highway. It has also proposed three tunnels-one (600m) at Theeng in North Sikkim highway and two (1.5 km each) in JN Marg where roads are vulnerable to further breeches. The costs come to Rs. 45 crores per km in the proposed tunnels. Works are about to begin for the Theeng tunnel and the JN Marg tunnels are in proposal stage. The BRO is also being hampered by recurring landslides along these roads.
  • So far more than 340 slides have taken place along these roads requiring us to clear the slides and restore traffic movement repeatedly, said the official. Lack of laborers is another hurdle. Hundreds of laborers from outside Sikkim, mostly from Jharkhand, Bihar and West Bengal engaged in road and hydel power projects fled after the earthquake. Most of them are refusing to come back, it was informed.The Project Swastik employs around 2000 laborers for its activities here in Sikkim and the laborer force has depleted to 700, most of whom are locals. Even our local workers are engaged in restoring their damaged properties and not reporting for duty, said the BRO official. Though it is feared that such problems would cause a delay in the road widening projects of North Sikkim highway and JN Marg, the BRO is banking on support from the Centre to avoid the delay. “The Centre is ready to give us more machinery to avoid the delay. They don’t want the projects to be delayed and everyone is helping out”, said the official.
  • The Project Swastik looks after the connectivity issues of Sikkim and parts of North Bengal. It presently is undertaking three major road widening projects-North Sikkim highway (180 kms, Rs. 600 crores), Gangtok-Nathula La road (66 kms, Rs. 495 crores) and NH 31 A (96 kms, survey has not been completed on the West Bengal side, Rs. 73.9 crores for the Sikkim side).The first two projects are scheduled be completed by 2015. Presently, the Project Swastik is engaged in removing the loose boulders lying on top of roads. “There are large boulders which are lying loose above the road. We are presently removing them to ensure safety of the road users”, said the official.After the earthquake, the Project Swastik is considering to position emergency teams at vulnerable areas along the North Sikkim highway and JN Marg. “We are going to reposition reserves teams with machinery, diesel and spare parts along the vulnerable areas so restoration works can start immediately”, said the official.

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