Sevok-Rangpo Rly link: Heavy rain collapses protection wall near Tunnel 7
Darjeeling: After major damages to the National Highway 10 to Sikkim, incessant rainfall has resulted in the collapse of the protection wall of Tunnel 7 of the Sevok-Rangpo Railway project. However, there are no reports yet of any loss of human life.
The tunnel is located at Ravijhora. “An incident of slope failure due to landslide on account of heavy rainfall has taken place near Tunnel 7 of the Sevok-Rangpo project being constructed by IRCON in Sikkim. As per reports from the field, there are no casualties or injuries. There is no loss of any machinery or Railway assets. The landslide is about 30 metres away from the tunnel location and there is no danger to the tunnel. Further, in view of heavy rainfall, precautionary measures had already been taken to remove men and machinery from the site in advance. Work on removal of the debris and protection of the site is being started,” stated Mahinder Singh, Project Director, IRCON.
With a distance of 44.9 km, the line will connect Sevok in Bengal to Rangpo in Sikkim. The route will comprise 14 tunnels and 22 bridges (13 major and 9 minor). It will have five stations, including Sevok, Riyang, Teesta Bazar, Melli and Rangpo. Meanwhile, the National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation Lt., in charge of the National Highway 10, the lifeline of Sikkim, had earlier notified the closure of traffic movement from Coronation bridge (0 km) to Chitrey (km 30) from 8 pm of August 3 till August 6 due to “safety considerations”.
This is owing to a critical cracks that have developed at Setijhora (km 6.8) on the NH10, owing to incessant rainfall. Repair work is going on a war footing so that the road can be opened to traffic as per schedule. However, continuing rains have emerged as a major deterrent. The Indian Meteorological Department has issued a Yellow (7-11 cm) heavy rainfall warning for all North Bengal districts, including Darjeeling and Kalimpong on Wednesday and Orange (7-20cm) very heavy rainfall for Thursday.
