Once upon a time in 2008 - the story of a ropeway and a dam

Dams often earn the ire of environmentalists and locals alike and with good reason: I am very sure that NH10 (connecting Siliguri and Gangtok) has become more unsafe due to dam operations on the Teesta river. Yet dams also benefit a lot of people.
(see short write up by Dr Vimal Khawas of Sikim University - Vimal is a person who should know since he belongs to Suruk which was a remote inaccessible village before NHPC's Teesta Low Dam Project (TLDPIII) was commissioned in 2013).
I visited TLDP III many times when it was being constructed and have placed below photos of how village people from the Suruk, Samthar and Yangmakum region (of Kalimpong district) used to commute to and from their village to the urban centers across the river Teesta in 2008, when the dam construction was in progress.

Dr Vimal Khawas' take:

Stories and arguments of ecological fallouts and socio-economic fractures abound when we talk about hydro-dams across the Himalayas including in Darjeeling and Sikkim.

However, there are many economic and infrastructural benefits that the villages surrounding these projects have witnessed due to these projects.

The remote villages of Samthar and Yangmakum GP (over ten villages), that were over the years neglected by the government, have directly benefitted from the above projects. One of the major outcomes of these projects, is the two motorable bridges at 27^th mile and Kalijhora areas that connect the remote villages with the mainstream. Villagers used to walk/trek several hrs and take manually operated ropeway to cross river Teesta before TDLP III was constructed. These projects have also facilitated to smoothen the village roads and walking lanes/footpaths. Smaller bridges and culverts have been constructed across villages to ease the difficult lives of the villagers. Besides, NHPC has also aided school children thru scholarships, established primary schools and health centers in selected locations. People in the villages like Suruk, Samthar, Panbu, Yang, Makum etc have been financially empowered after the bridges connected the villages to the market.

This is not to say that there are no negative fallouts of these projects, particularly on the riparian habitations along NH10. The negative impacts have been discussed at length by the researchers and activists elsewhere.

Photo Essay:
Praful Rao
Kalimpong district
Darjeeling-Sikkim Himalaya