People of Sikkim and Darjeeling will continue to share their joys and sorrows together

Editorial, EOI, 12 June 2024 : The congratulatory message of Darjeeling M.P. Raju Bista to Chief Minister of Sikkim Prem Singh Tamang on the occasion of the swearing-in ceremony of the latter that people of Darjeeling and Sikkim are blood brothers is highly true. 

Historically, the hills of Sikkim Darjeeling had been bound by the same umbilical cord that got separated in 1835 when the British obtained the title over the Darjeeling hills from the Chogyal of Sikkim to set up a health resort. 

But there are numerous other ties between the two neighboring hill regions which it is not possible to severe. 

One of the most important of them is the infrastructure. When a landslide occurs, for instance, on National Highway 10, Sikkim and Darjeeling suffer equally badly. The landslide near Singtam on Tuesday morning, for instance, had rendered the highway impassable, leading to extensive traffic disruptions and severe inconvenience for commuters. 

There was a massive traffic jam, with the queue of vehicles extending to several kilometers. Though the disruption was in Sikkim, the impact was felt in the neighbouring West Bengal district of Kalimpong as well.

Equally, when a landslide on N.H. 10 occurs in some of the vulnerable stretches of the road in the Kalimpong district of West Bengal, commuters from Sikkim going to Siliguri to catch a train, a bus or a flight get equally caught in the disruption. 

The disruption caused by the downpour in the Pakyong sub-division, too, affected the traffic flow from Sikkim to the Pedong area of Kalimpong. When the Elevated Highway Corridor from Balason to Sevoke Army Cantonment comes up, it will speed up the flow of traffic to Sikkim as well as the Kalimpong hills of West Bengal. 

If the setting up of this road infrastructure attracts investments to north Bengal, both Sikkim and Darjeeling will also enjoy some benefits. 

The on-going improvements in this road infrastructure will also increase the tourist flow to the hills of Darjeeling and Sikkim. 

When the Buddha Air of Nepal begins its flight operations between Pakyong Airport and Kathmandu and Pakyong, it will help the people of Sikkim and Darjeeling equally. For, many people travel between Nepal and Sikkim and Darjeelng frequently and they have to undergo similar difficulties either by availing the land border between India and Nepal at Kakarvitta or circuitous routes when travelling by air. 

For people of Darjeeling and Kalimpong it may be a shorter journey to Pakyong to take a flight than to Bagdogra. 

At another level, the demand for recognition of the left-out Gorkha communities as scheduled tribes touches the people of Darjeeling and Sikkim equally; though in the case of Darjeeling it is 11 communities while in the case of Sikkim it is 12. When the Centre agrees to accept this demand, it may have to make it a package deal for Darjeeling and Sikkim. 

For, the communities in question are the same and when their demand is accepted in Darjeeling it cannot be ignored in the case of Sikkim. 

The two regions had got separated because of historical reasons and it may not be possible to reverse that reality because history, too, has its own momentum. But it is sure the hills of Darjeeling and Sikkim will share their joys and sorrows together