Officials have started assessing the damage engendered by landslides and heavy rain in Mirik and several parts of the Darjeeling subdivision, with the hills returning to some semblance of normality.
The Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) has ordered the closure of all educational institutions in the hills until October 13 in view of the widespread disruption in road connectivity.
“We have conducted a detailed assessment of the number of damaged houses, roads and other properties after landslides wreaked havoc on the Mirik municipal area. The report has been submitted to the chief minister,” L.B. Rai, the chairperson of the board of administrators at the Mirik municipality, said at Dudhia on Tuesday.
The picturesque tourist hub, about 50km from Siliguri, was hit by a massive landslide on the night of October 4, killing 11 people in Mirik and its adjoining areas. Road connectivity to Mirik, ringed by rolling tea gardens and blue hills, was snapped after the collapse of a steel bridge over the Balason at Dudhia.
According to the Mirik civic board’s assessment, 32 houses were destroyed and 183 were partially damaged, while 152 boundary walls collapsed and 18 roads were rendered unusable. A tentative estimate suggests that over 100 houses have been damaged in the Mirik subdivision.
A relief camp has been opened at Soureni community hall in Mirk, where over 100 people have taken shelter.
“Power supply has been restored in Mirik. Drinking water is being supplied to all nine wards through tankers, although poor road conditions are making access to some areas difficult,” Rai said.
The water supply in rural areas of Mirik has been disrupted, and efforts are underway to restore it, a source said.
In the wider Darjeeling Sadar subdivision, around 160 localities in Bijanbari and Sukhiapokhri blocks have been affected. Nearly 22,000 people have been impacted. A total of 29 roads have been damaged.
Officials said three relief camps were opened at Reshihat, Chandraman Dhura and the Sangma community hall, sheltering about 110
displaced residents.
Data released by the GTA show that over 50 roads were breached across the hills. “We are trying our best to reach all the affected areas, but roads have been breached badly,” said an official.
The GTA extended the closure of the educational institutions when hill schools were scheduled to reopen after the Puja vacation on Wednesday.
Many boarding schools across the hills have students from Calcutta, Bihar, the Northeast, the rest of the country, Bhutan, Nepal, Bangladesh and Thailand.
The GTA’s order states that due to heavy rainfall “…connectivity and mobility have been disrupted in the entire region …”
The hill body has ordered that “all educational institutions (Government, Government sponsored, Government aided, private, run by Missionaries etc) viz primary schools, secondary schools, SSKs, MSKs, Colleges (both general & technical) …. will reopen on 13th October, 2025 (Monday)”.
More than 5,000 outstation boarders study in hill schools.
A school head said that since the GTA’s order came at the fag end of the holidays, any boarder who arrived even during the extended closure period would be accommodated. “Also, we plan to hold classes on Saturdays to make up for the lost study time,” said an administrator of a hill school.
Connectivity to Darjeeling has been restored through Pankabari and NH110, and the route to Kalimpong is also open. Mirik can be reached through the circuitous route via Ghoom.
The National Highways & Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (NHIDCL) has imposed restrictions on the movement of heavy commercial vehicles on NH10 for a month starting from Tuesday.
The NHIDCL order states that the restriction is being imposed “due to safety concerns arising from the declaration of heavy rainfall along the National Highway-10 stretch...”
The movement has been restricted on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays starting from “12 am midnight to 11.59 pm midnight” on the specified days.
Buses, however, have been kept out of the restrictions.
Sikkim chief minister Prem Singh Tamang (Golay) had earlier said that the closure of NH10 took a toll on the Himalayan state’s economy.