People walk along the area affected by the flood at Golitar, in Singtam, Sikkim, India October 5, 2023.
Credit: Reuters Photo
Army and NDRF teams, both on foot and in boats, have recovered 25 bodies including seven army men from the slush and debris of the flash flood which swept through Sikkim’s Teesta river, officials said Friday.
The flood which was triggered by a cloudburst in the early hours of Wednesday also resulted in a large number of people going missing.
Officials said 143 are still missing though some 2,413 people have been rescued and are in shelters.
Sikkim Chief Minister Prem Singh Tamang announced an ex-gratia compensation of Rs 4 lakh to the families of those who died in the flash flood in the state. He also declared an immediate relief of Rs 2,000 each to all those who are being sheltered in relief camps.
"There have been damages worth thousands of crores of rupees. We cannot give exact details about damages, it will be revealed once a committee is formed and it completes its analysis. Our first priority is to save those who are stranded and provide them immediate relief," he told PTI Video.
"Road connectivity between districts has been cut off and bridges have been washed away. Communication in North Sikkim has been severely affected," Tamang said.
Of the 23 army personnel who had gone missing from Bardang area, the bodies of seven have been recovered from different areas downstream while one had been rescued earlier.
Search for the remaining is continuing both in Sikkim and the neighbouring northern part of West Bengal through which the Teesta river flows, the chief minister said.
The Sikkim State Disaster Management Authority (SSDMA) said in its latest bulletin that 25 people have died so far and 143 have gone missing.
While 15 people including six army personnel died in Pakyong district, Mangan and Gangtok districts accounted for four and six deaths respectively, the SSDMA said.
Nearly 25,100 people have been affected by the calamity, it said.
The chief minister said that he has spoken with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, President Droupadi Murmu and other Union ministers.
"They have assured me that all necessary assistance will be provided to the state," Tamang said.
Shah has approved the release of Rs 44.8 crore as an advance amount from the central share of the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) to Sikkim to provide relief to flash floods-affected people.
Following a directive from Shah, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has formed an Inter-Ministerial Central Team (IMCT), which will visit the affected areas of Sikkim soon to make an assessment of the damage caused due to a Glacial Lake Outburst Flood (GLOF), cloudburst and flash floods, according to an official statement.
The flash flood in the Teesta River, triggered by the cloudburst in Lhonak Lake, caused an accumulation of a huge quantity of water, which turned towards Chungthang Dam destroying the power infrastructure before moving downstream in spate flooding towns and villages.
The flood destroyed 13 bridges in the state, with eight bridges getting washed away in Mangan district alone. Three bridges were destroyed in Gangtok and two in Namchi.
Chungthang town bore the maximum brunt of the flood with 80 per cent of it getting severely affected. The NH-10, considered the lifeline of the state, sustained extensive damage at several places.
Meanwhile, the search for the remaining 15 missing army personnel is underway downstream near Teesta barrage.
At the site of the incident in Bardang, army vehicles have been dug out and stores were recovered, a defence release said, adding tracker dogs and special radars have been deployed in the search operations.
Surveys are being carried out by all agencies to assess the damage and plan restoration of road connectivity. The road link between Singtam and Bardang has been restored with the clearing of a single lane for vehicular traffic, the release said.
Tamang also assured the evacuees of free of cost medical treatment and logistical support up to Siliguri, the largest city in northern West Bengal, for people who are from outside the state working here if they wish to return home.
On the criticism from various quarters over the construction of hydel power projects in the fragile Himalayan mountain region, he blamed the “flawed and substandard” developmental models of the past governments for devastations.
He also slammed the opposition for indulging in politics over a natural calamity.