Video: Army builds 70-foot bridge in 3 days in flood-hit Sikkim

NEW DELHI: The Indian Army‘s Trishakti Corps engineers have successfully built a 70-foot Bailey Bridge on the Dikchu-Sanklang road in Gangtok within 72 hours. The construction work, which commenced on June 23, was undertaken to restore connectivity to areas that were cut off due to the recent floods in Sikkim.
“Supporting the efforts of BRO and local administration in restoring connectivity and getting normalcy back to areas cut off due to recent floods in Sikkim, Army engineers of Trishakti Corps constructed a 70 feet Bailey Bridge on road Dikchu – Sanklang, braving incessant rains & challenging technical constraints,” said PRO Defence, Guwahati.

The PRO Defence further added, “The recent floods in Sikkim has led to disruptions of road communications to many areas in North Sikkim. Responding to the calls for rebuilding efforts, the Army engineers constructed a Bailey bridge at Dett Khola on Dikchu-Sanklang axis. The work started on 23th Jun & completed within 72 hours, working under challenging weather conditions. The bridge is an important link to enable vehicular traffic from Dikchu to Sanklang towards Chungthang. The bridge will assist in providing basic necessities including critical medical aid for the affected people of Mangan district.”
The efforts of the Indian Army were appreciated by the state forest minister and state secretary of disaster Management Pintso Namgyal Lepcha who visited the site on June 27, PRO defence said.
The heavy rains that have been ongoing since June 11 have caused significant damage in North Sikkim, resulting in multiple landslides and breaches on roads such as Dikchu-Sanklang-Toong, Mangan-Sanklang, Singtham-Rangrang, and Rangrang-Toong, effectively cutting off connectivity to the region.
The Indian Army engineers from Trishakti Corps had also constructed a 150-foot suspension bridge in North Sikkim to reconnect the border villages that were isolated due to the persistent heavy rains, providing relief to the local residents.
(With agency inputs)