Sikkim Flood: Relief Commissioner of Sikkim visited the disaster-affected areas of Mangan district, took stock of the damage

Secretary of Revenue and Disaster Management Department and Relief Commissioner MT Sherpa on Thursday visited the disaster affected areas of Dongu and Chungthang sub-divisions of Mangan district. He was accompanied by Director of Sikkim State Disaster Management Authority Prabhakar Rai, Additional Director Rajiv Roka and other departmental officials during this visit.

The purpose of this visit was to assess the damage caused by continuous rain and to start quick and long-term relief and rehabilitation measures by understanding the ground situation. According to the information, the inspection started from Fidang, where a part of the safety wall on the river bank was found damaged. Along with this, the condition of the Fidang Bridge was also assessed. It was decided to repair the temporary bamboo bridge present here and build a new bridge for public use. A brief meeting was held at the SDM office of Chungthang, in which district and village panchayat members, ADC Development, SDM, SDPO, Medical Officer, BDO, Deputy Commandant of NDRF, and officials of concerned departments were present.

The Relief Commissioner interacting with the elected representatives and sub-divisional officers appealed to them to maintain patience and unity in the crisis and assured that the government, under the leadership of Chief Minister Prem Singh Tamang, is taking all possible steps. He also informed that many tourists stranded in Lachen were successfully evacuated today by MI-17 helicopters of the Indian Air Force and the remaining tourists will be evacuated tomorrow if the weather is favorable.

He appealed to the people not to believe in rumors and said that the situation was completely under control and all other parts of Sikkim were completely safe for tourists. On this occasion, the keys of the emergency vehicle were also handed over to the office of SDM Chungthang by the SSDMA. This vehicle has been provided only to the Chungthang sub-division in the state given the recent disasters. The team also visited the Chungthang Gurudwara and thanked the sevadars for their selfless service during the time of natural disasters.

A consignment of medicines sent by the Health Department was also handed over to the Medical Officer of Chungthang, which will be sent to Lachen. The team also inspected the damage caused by landslides on Lachen Road. As road connectivity is disrupted at many places, the Relief Commissioner directed the Chungthang SDM to prepare an immediate plan and cost estimate of foot (wooden) bridges at many places on the route from Chungthang to Zema. The team also visited the site of a recent vehicle accident near Munshithang and interacted with NDRF Deputy Commandant Vivek Kumar and other officers. ADC Mangan Pema Wangchen Namkarpa, DPO DDMA Mangan Karma Dorjee Wajalingpa, and other officers were also present in the visit.