BRO personnel clear the stretch affected by the cave-in on NH31A at Likhubhir on Wednesday. Picture by Chinlop Fudong Lepcha

Kalimpong, July 20: A 40-metre stretch of NH31A caved in completely along the Teesta near Kalimpong this morning, hampering traffic on the only road link between Sikkim and the rest of the country for eight hours.

A large number of people, including tourists, had to take a detour to reach their destinations as hundreds of vehicles were stuck on either side of the affected stretch at Likhubhir.

The highway opened for traffic again at 2pm after the Border Roads Organisation cut the hillside to bypass the breach at Likhubhir, 18km from here.

A source in the BRO, which maintains the road, said the cave-in had occurred between 5.30am and 6am. “A 40-metre stretch of the highway completely sank and the rubble fell into the Teesta flowing along the road. A protection wall we were constructing to stem the erosion of the roadside also sank. Bulldozers were pressed into service and the hillside was cut to skirt the breached portion and reconnect the road. The traffic resumed on NH31A around 2pm,” said a BRO official.

Likhubhir is 2km down the Teesta bridge and has always been prone to landslides and cave-ins. In fact, today’s cave-in occurred about 200 metres from the portion that had sank last year, resulting in traffic block for hours.

Commuters from the Siliguri side walk over boulders to reach the other side of the affected part of the road. Picture by Chinlop Fudong Lepcha

When The Telegraph visited Likhubhir around 10.30am today, heavy vehicles were lined bumper-to-bumper right from the Teesta bridge. The queue on the other side of the breach from the Siliguri side, however, was shorter. “The traffic jam would have been much larger had light vehicles not travelled through alternative routes to reach their destinations. I have been stuck here since 5.30am,” said Sailesh Rai, a truck driver.

Light vehicles going to Siliguri took the Teesta-Peshok-Jorebunglow road, while those bound for Sikkim and Kalimpong travelled through Mungpoo or plied the Damdim-Lava-Algarah route.

The vehicles that skirted the breached portion had to guzzle double the fuel usually needed to travel between Siliguri and Kalimpong. It takes about two hours to cover the 65-km distance between Kalimpong and Siliguri via NH31A and more than four hours via the Damdim-Lava-Algarah road.

Suraj Mani Pradhan, a quiz master from Kalimpong, was among those who took the Teesta-Peshok-Jorebunglow road to reach Siliguri. “I am right now in Siliguri with my family to visit an ailing relative,” he said. Pradhan could take a detour as he was travelling on a light vehicle. But bus passengers had to cross the breached portion on foot and get into other vehicles to continue their journey.

A family from Punjab was returning home after a visit to Sikkim. The group that consisted of children also reached Likhubhir on a Sikkim National Transport bus and walked across the caved-in stretch. “We have to catch a train to Jalandhar from New Jalpaiguri this evening. Although this was quite an ordeal, we consider ourselves lucky since we will not miss the train,” said Dalbir Singh, the head of the family.

A man who did not want to be named said he was on his way to Gangtok on an official assignment. “I arrived at the NJP railway station this morning and boarded a bus to Gangtok. This (cave-in) has forced me to get off at Likhubhir and board another bus to proceed to Gangtok. I had originally planned to return today, but that looks to be unlikely now,” he said.