Teesta flash flood: Army, BRO complete construction of Zeema Bailey Bridge

Darjeeling: Troops of the Trishakti Corps Indian Army with assistance from BRO completed the Bailey Bridge over Zeema Chu at Zeema.

This has finally connected the entire Lachen area in North Sikkim with the Northern side.

A flash flood in the River Teesta in the wee hours of October 4 had resulted in a trail of destruction in Sikkim and the Hills of West Bengal.

The devastation was triggered by a glacial lake outburst flood washing away the Sikkim Urja Limited, the hydro project dam at Chungthang in North Sikkim. Major parts of strategically located North Sikkim remained cut off owing to this.

The 100-feet Bailey Bridge was constructed over Zeema Chu which had to face the first impact of the GLOF. Working round the clock, the BRO initially constructed the abutments followed by the bridge construction by Trishakti Sappers which took around three days. Engineer troops of the Trishakti Corps and BRO along with several heavy-moving plants were employed for this operation.

The Bailey Bridge will now pave the way to establish the movement of vehicles and provision of relief material to the important town of Lachen.