Photo report on Teesta bazar and its vicinity - 21July2024

The Teesta valley GLOF, hit the town of Teesta at approx 4am on 04Oct2023 and caused much devastation which we have recorded in this blog here. What was clearly apparent then was that unless some urgent engineering steps and other short term measures to mitigate the impact of the GLOF were taken quickly, the whole area would again relive the disaster when the summer monsoons arrived.
Unfortunately, except for some very temporary measures like evacuating people to relief camps, doling out some compensation and reopening roads, we did not take advantage of the dry season when the Teesta river was more manageable and of course, we had the general elections of  April2024 which provided a good reason to sideline disaster management requirements of the GLOF.
I have visited the Teesta bazar area numerous times (I live in Kalimpong which is 17km from Teesta bazar and it takes me 40mins to reach there), interviewed affected people, given many presentations and written to the NDMA, SDMA's of Sikkim, W Bengal and other political representatives with a view to highlight the seriousness of the condition in the Teesta valley and especially in the low lying areas where the river is now flowing at elevated levels.
I spent 5hrs at the Teesta bazar and its vicinity again on 21July2024 and my observations are as follows:

Weather conditions in our area
   * The monsoon rainfall generally peaks in July but we still have not had really heavy and prolonged rain in our region.
   * IMD had issued 10 days of RED warning for heavy rain around mid June2024 and north Sikkim did get heavy rain on 13Jun2024. Impacts:
         - the Teesta river flooded parts of Melli, Teesta bazars.
         - Darjeeling-Kalimpong road was submerged,
         - NH10 is closed, mainly due to landslides at Likhu Bhir
   * However, for the past 6 days or so, we have seen a drastic decline in rainfall in our area due to the formation of a low pressure area in the Bay of Bengal. This has resulted in the water levels falling in the river as such the Darjeeling- Kalimpong road is open. However, NH10 continues to be closed for repairs since 01July2024.

Impact on Teesta River

View of the river from the Teesta bridge and looking northwards towards Sikkim. Even though water levels had reduced because of less rain, the river was still very swift and flowing bank to bank

View of the river from the Teesta bridge looking southwards towards Siliguri. The Darjeeling-Kalimpong road on the right is now useable - but only so long as the water level remains low.

Teesta flowing from bank to bank near Likhu bhir (27 02 27.3 N  88 25 39.6 E, Elev 240m)

Teesta river opposite Geil Khola. This is the only place (27 01 48.3 N 88 25 43.0 E, Elevn 225m) where I saw that the river has moved away from a populated area and is now confined to the opposite bank - everywhere else, it was flowing from bank to bank.

Teesta river at Rabi Jhora (27 03 0.5 N 88 25 38.6 E, Elevn 534m) where it is flowing at the same level as NH10. Teesta bridge linking Sikkim and Kalimpong can be seen in the background.

Impact on Populated Areas
I visited the Teesta bazar and tried to access Melli (S Sikkim) and Bangay Bazar in the same area but could not do so due to a landslide and a flooded bridge. It is a grim and sorry tale which I witnessed in the entire region - since the highway is closed, road traffic has drastically reduced in all the areas as such business is dead for those who have restaurants and tourism related work in the valley. Rafting, another money earner for the local youth has also stopped due to the river being in spate.
The river is now running close to low lying populated areas and in the case of many homes and buildings, the Teesta river is lapping around in the ground floor rooms of the dwellers and I was told by a hotel owner at Melli (W Bengal side) that he has to keep checking the water level in the basement with a torch thru much of the night.
All this, with almost 3 months of rains ahead.

Melli (South Sikkim) - 27 05 12.5 N 88 27 9.7 E, Elevn 230m
Melli is a small town in South Sikkim located across a bridge over the Teesta river. I found that there was no vehicular access to Melli after the main road to the town was destroyed by a landslide MORE than a month ago.

All vehicles destined for Melli town were parked at a petrol station almost a kilometer from the town from where people had to walk to/from the town. We were told that the carriage charges by porters for ferrying goods to the town was Rs 100 per 10Kgs!

This landslide took place more than a month ago and has cut off vehicular access to Melli town in Sikkim since then. When I asked why the repair was taking so long, I was informed by the locals that whatever the bulldozers cleared during the day is nullified at night with parts of the hills crumbling and blocking the road again. One has to walk to/from Melli town on an 'upper route' above the landslide area (27 05 13.4 N 88 27 9.7 E, Elevn 226m).
Time constraints prevented us from walking to the town but we know that the Melli stadium which was painfully cleared of debris all thru winter was once again flooded on 13Jun2024.

Geil Khola (27 01 41.2 N 88 25 40.0 E, Elevn 230m)
This is a sleepy little hamlet on NH10 which was badly impacted by the GLOF last year. The village was not affected by the deluge of Jun2024 and nothing seems to have changed since Oct2023. All the houses which were buried then, are still buried and with the highway closed for 3 weeks, most of the small restaurants and hotels were also closed.

Geil khola on 21July2024

Bangay Bazar (26 59 58.3 N 88 26 35.8 E, Elevn 211m)
We have covered this area in an earlier blog here when 19 homes had been inundated during the GLOF. The conditions seemed similar when I visited the place on 21July2024 - Relli river was again flowing over the bridge to the village and there seemed to be little activity in the village itself.

Teesta Bazar (27 03 23.1 N 88 25 30.4 E, Elevn 220m)
Teesta bazar was badly affected by recent rains in June and July2024 and we have reported on the condition of Bhasuwa or Krishnagram in the town, in our last blog. Our observations on places we visited is as follows:

Many homes and structures which are NOW on the banks of the river are submerged. Locals clearly state the river 'was always way down below' and that it is only post GLOF2023 that the river is so high and so close.

Submerged homes on the banks of the Teesta and the Darjeeling-Kalimpong road at Teesta bazar which also routinely gets flooded during heavy rain in the valley.

The Teesta river runs close to all these houses which today find themselves on the banks of the river at Teesta bazar. Politicians and media people visiting these areas often ask the people 'why did you all build your homes so close to the river?' To which they answer, 'No sir! we did not build our houses close to the river, it is the river which has come close to our homes' - this is wholly correct.
People still live in most of these houses and the river levels seen here are after 6 days of little or no rain in our region.

GTA Covid Hospital at Tribeni

We could not visit the hospital since there is no road access.

Condition of NH10 and roads

National Highway 10 (NH10) - closed since 01Jul2024

In the time available to us on 21July2024, we could only cursorily survey approx 12.5 km of the NH10 which lies between Melli and Teesta Low Dam Project III. This section of NH10 is also the most problematic maintenance-wise and has always had some major landslides which have continuously troubled both the agencies who maintain the highway and also travellers. However, after the 2023 GLOF, the scenario has changed entirely with the Teesta river flowing almost at road level in many places - causing the saturated road bench to slump into the river at places. I have placed photos of areas which are damaged below:

This is close to the Teesta bridge and failure of this slope would impact both NH10 and the Darjeeling-Kalimpong road which is directly below (27 03 8.0 N 88 25 36.9 E, Elevn 588m).

This is the infamous 27th Mile landslide which troubled us for years. After suitable treatment, it had somewhat stabilized recently and it remained stable even after the GLOF. The recent rains seems to have reactivated it. There was a bulldozer stationed here, indicating it has become a threat (27 01 1.6 N 88 26 5.6 E, Elevn 236m).

Image of Likhu Bhir landslide in Apr2024 when the highway was closed for repair (credit: Mukesh Sharma, Kalimpong)

Likhu Bhir (both photos), is an old landslide which was stable for years, until the GLOF activated it on 04Oct2023. It is a very troublesome slide on NH10 now (27 02 34.8 N 88 25 43.3 E, Elevn 250m)

With a fast flowing river so close to the road bench, parts of the road slumping into the river is common. This is at Likhu Bhir and the workers informed us that IRCON tippers were dumping excavated soil from tunnels into the river to 'push' it away from the road.( 27 02 11.6 N 88 25 38.4 E, Elevn 234m)

This road slump is near Baluatar, seen in the distant (27 00 41.2 N 88 26 23.7 E, Elevn 262m)

Rabi Jhora, which is just a stones throw from Teesta bazar. Notice that the level of the river is almost the same level as the highway ( 27° 2'59.71"N, 88°25'35.06"E Elevn 534m).

NH10 approximately opposite Melli. The edges of the highway are slumping into the river at many places (27 04 56.4 N 88 26 47.2 E, Elevn 285m)

Laborers houses on the river bank on NH10 near Melli. Some have abandoned their homes but it appeared that some were steadfastly staying put (27 05 1.2 N 88 27 4.7 E,
Elevn 233m).

NH10 opposite Melli town. With the river flowing at much higher levels due to the GLOF, parts of the saturated highway are crumbling into the river. This phenomenon was observed even before the GLOF and largely due to dam activity but now with the GLOF, this is more frequent.

Darjeeling - Kalimpong (road via Teesta Bazar)
A large section of the above road was submerged by the GLOF 04Oct2023 and was only reopened for use by light vehicles on 21Oct2023. It was plain to see that with the river flowing barely a few feet below the road level around the Teesta bridge, that the road would again be inundated when the river level went up.

Darjeeling- Kalimpong road after the GLOF on 22Oct2023 . Notice the level of the road and the river.

That is exactly what happened on 13Jun2024, when the river levels rose following heavy rains in  North Sikkim.

Photo of flooded Darjeeling- Kalimpong road in mid-Jun2024 (courtesy - Mukesh Sharma, Kalimpong)

When we visited Teesta Bazar on 21July2024, after 6 days of almost dry weather, the river had receded and the road was dry except for small patches of water. Yet what we were told by the locals near the road is that the moment it rains heavily, the road would again be submerged.

The Darjeeling-Kalimpong road on 21July2024. This entire road was flooded on 13Jun2024 and will again be flooded the moment the Teesta river level rises due to heavy rain in the catchment areas. So traveling to Darjeeling and back (normally a 3 hour trip) becomes a guessing game. Add to the fact that hundreds of tourists normally plan their holidays between Darjeeling and Gangtok and have to transit thru this area - while going to Darjeeling - for them it will be a harrowing and uncertain experience.


Tribeni hospital access road (27 04 2.4 N L 88 25 36.5 E, Elevn 223m) :
Road access to the hospital at Tribeni was never restored after the 4Oct2023 GLOF because the Teesta river kept parts of the road always submerged. This was so when we photographed the road on 21July2024 (see top photo)

Entry point of the Tribeni Hospital access road on 21July2024. I have visited this area very often over the past year and with each visit noticed the river eroding more parts of the access road. An image of the same area in Nov2023 but viewed from the opposite direction is below.

Much of this area is now under water and whereas vehicular movement was possible in Nov2023, it is impossible now.

Recommendations

1. We, once again request that an independent team of experts and scientists visit the Teesta Valley DURING the monsoons 2024 to see and understand the devastation and plight of affected people in Sikkim and W Bengal.

2. Appropriate engineering mitigation measures to control the river and protect population centers and roads, along with proper allocation of funds and resources in the entire Teesta valley maybe implemented based on the report of such an expert committee.

3. Mitigation measures in the affected areas maybe executed sooner than later, keeping in mind that no effective intervention can be undertaken during the monsoons when the river is in spate and our road communication is decimated by landslides.

Failure to take timely corrective action will mean repetition of this whole scenario once again in 2025.

Praful Rao
SaveTheHills
savethehills@gmail.com
9475033744