The portion of NH55 that caved in at 14th Mile. File picture

Siliguri, Sept. 7: The Hill Cart Road will be opened for both light and heavy vehicles from September 25, but the state public works department will ensure that the freight carriers’ load does not exceed the permissible limit of four tonnes. The Siliguri-Kurseong stretch of the highway had been closed since June 16 last year when a 20-metre part of the road caved in and crashed into a 400-feet deep gorge at 14th Mile near Paglajhora.

A landslide triggered by heavy rain had caused the collapse. Both the heavy and light vehicles plied on Rohini and Pankhabari roads following the collapse.

Paglajhora is 35km from Siliguri.

More landslides followed at 14th Mile and ultimately, almost 500 metres of Hill Cart Road — as NH55 is called — were washed away.

Even though the road was repaired by April this year and light vehicles were allowed to ply, 300 metres of the stretch at the same spot collapsed again because of fresh landslides in June.

“The damage was not as severe. We resumed restoration work on NH55 on August 28. Since then, we have been working on a war footing to make the road fit for both light and heavy vehicles to ply from September 25. With the Puja next month, more tourists will be visiting the hills. So, it is necessary to open the highway soon to lessen the burden on Rohini and Pankhabari roads,” said Nirmal Mondol, the executive engineer of PWD (NH Division 9)

“It will take another three to four months to finish the repair. The road will be black-topped only after it is fully restored,” he said.

However, the PWD is concerned about the damage likely to be caused by overloaded vehicles.

A PWD official said the department would request the Darjeeling district administration to set up booths to weigh the vehicle on the highway.

“We will put forward a proposal asking the district administration to keep tabs on heavy vehicles by setting up booths at some points on the road to weigh load carried by them,” said the official.

According to officials of district motor vehicle department, the load permitted for heavy vehicles on hill roads is maximum four tonnes. However, because of the absence of a weigh-bridge on the highway, heavy vehicles always carried more than two tonnes in excess of the permissible limit, they said.

Although, the highway will be opened for traffic, chances are remote that Darjeeling Himalayan Railway will resume toy train service between Siliguri and Kurseong. The toy train tracks were left hanging after the road came crashing into the gorge. “So far, we have done only the fringe work of constructing the embankments. We can undertake the main task of laying the tracks only after the road is given a bitumen cover,” said DHR director P.P. Roy.