Mukesh Sharma

 Kalimpong,25th June

The early morning rain caused an accident at Malli that resulted in a fatality and triggered two landslides on NH 10 in Kalimpong.

Last year’s monsoon landslide hotspot Bhoteybhir witnessed the first landslip around 5 a.m. when debris fell on the road. The PWD which recently took over the road from the GREF cleared the debris in an hour’s time,restoring one-way traffic but again around 9 a.m. another landslip occurred in the same place,which was also cleared.

Around 1 in the afternoon, another landslide occurred near Swetijhora area under Rambi police limits, blocking the road. Swetijhora, where the highway had been blocked for four days last year, is a troublesome spot for travellers.

Today’s landslip resulted in a massive traffic jam in both directions but again the PWD went into action and cleared the debris.Anup Maity, executive engineer, PWD NH Division said four JCBs and two excavator machines were deployed to clear the debris.

Kalimpong received around 20 mm rainfall today. Meanwhile, one Sikkim bound vehicle, registration number XYLO SK 02 Z 0166 met with an accident at 8th mile near Mamkhola underMalli out post this morning.

The vehicle skidded around 100 ft down in the jungle area just above river Teesta, killing the driver Suk Bahadur Ghimiray (30) of Namthang in Sikkim, on the spot. The vehicle was going returning from Darjeeling after dropping a passenger of a hotel.Malli outpost officer-in-charge Amresh Singh and his officers reached the spot and retrieved the body.