Amitava Banerjee, MP, 4 May 2024, Darjeeling: The District Magistrate, Kalimpong has issued an order restricting the movement of all types of vehicles from Rabi Jhora to Gail Khola, 29th Mile on the National Highway (NH) 10 from 6 am on May 6 to 6 am on May 9.
Alternative routes and diversions have been specified in the order. This restriction has been clamped to allow repair work on the NH 10.
Incidentally, the NH10 connects the state of Sikkim with the plains of Bengal and is a lifeline for the Himalayan state of Sikkim. The road was badly damaged owing to a flash flood on the Teesta on October 4, 2023.
Since then the condition of NH 10 has been unstable with the need to close down stretches for vehicular traffic, for repairs.
“We had received a request from the executive engineer, NH, Division 9, PW Roads on April 30, to restrict vehicular movement of all types of vehicles to carry out bituminous work on the 2.40 km stretch between Rabi Jhora to Gail Khola along NH 10,” stated Balasubramanian T, District Magistrate, Kalimpong.
The notice states that only small vehicles will move from Rangpoo towards Siliguri via Munsong-17th Mile-Algarah- Lava-Gorubathan and then onto Siliguri and vice versa, round-the-clock. Small vehicles will move from Chitrey-Kalimpong town-Algarah-Lava-Gorubathan and Siliguri and vice-versa round-the-clock. Goods vehicles will move from Chitrey-Kalimpong town-Algarah-Lava-Gorubathan and to Siliguri and vice-versa from 9 pm to 6 am.
Goods vehicle and small vehicles will move from Reshi-Pedong-Algarah-Lava- Gorubathan and to Siliguri and vice-versa round-the-clock. “Necessary restrictions at Rangpo checkpost, Chitrey and at the district border on the NH 10 stretch shall be imposed by the police for facilitating the route diversions,” added the DM.
With temperatures soaring in the plains, there is a huge rush of tourists to Sikkim and Kalimpong, accessed through the NH 10. The diversions will result in longer travel time and will be heavy on the purse.
“The NH 10 is highly fragile but tourism to Kalimpong and Sikkim is heavily dependent on it. We are digging up the area for a new train line, despite the fragile ecosystem. This will further affect the NH 10 and also the villages like Rambi along the road.
The only consolation now is that nearly 70 per cent of construction work of the alternate highway 177A to Sikkim is complete. We hope that this highway is completed at the earliest,” stated Raj Basu, Convenor, Association for Conservation of Tourism (ACT).
Courtesy & source- Millennium Post
https://www.millenniumpost.in/bengal/nh-10-closes-down-for-repairs-562424?infinitescroll=1