Sikkim tour resumes with risk rider

TT, Gangtok, May 29: The police check-post here resumed issuing permits to tourists bound for north Sikkim yesterday after taking an undertaking that they were making the visit at their own risk.

The check-post had stopped issuing travel permits on May 18 after a concrete bridge over a stream on the North Sikkim Highway had collapsed at Ritchu. Hundreds of tourists returning to Gangtok from Lachen, Lachung, Yumthang valley and Gurudongmar lake in North District were left stranded following overnight rain on May 17.

The bridge has the North district headquarters, Mangan, on one side and Chungthang on the other.

"Yesterday, we again started giving permits to tourists to visit north Sikkim. But the tourists as well as tour operators have to give an undertaking that they are making the trips at their own risk. They should give it in writing that no one would be responsible in case of untoward incidents," said a government official.

Around 15 vehicles carrying 70 tourists headed for north Sikkim yesterday and today.

"The tourists will have to take a taxi up to Ritchu and then cross the affected stretch on foot. They will get into another taxi to reach the destinations," said the official.

Around 100 tourist vehicles were left stranded on the road in the direction of Chungthang after the bridge collapse and they would be used for the transhipment.

The government has increased the travel fare for north Sikkim trips by 20 per cent for a temporary period.

In previous years also, the check-post had made tourists give similar undertakings, especially during the rainy season when landslides and cave-in pose serious problems to the travel.

The North District collector, Karma Bonpo, said the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) would restore the road for light vehicles by June 5.

Ritchu is 75km from here.