Sikkim Minister urges Centre for the early sanction of alternative Melli-Singtam route

Samdup Lepcha, Minister for Roads and Bridges Department, accompanied by the PCE cum Secretary, Roads and Bridges Department and Chief Engineer (NH) attended the 2-day National Conference ‘MANTHAN - Idea to Action’.

Various issues related to the road and transport sector were deliberated upon during the 2-day conclave. Minister for Roads & Bridges Department, Samdup Lepcha in his address to the gathering thanked the Union Govt as well as Minister Nitin Gadkari for their continued support to the state of Sikkim as a result of which the state had seen a marked improvement in the road infrastructure.

Samdup Lepcha also brought to the notice the august gathering, issues being faced by the state of Sikkim due to the poor state of the existing NH10 which was hindering the growth of tourism and other industries in the state.

He stressed the early sanction of the alternate highway from Melli to Singtam so as to alleviate the present problem being faced by the commuters.

Since the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways was also dealing with the development of ropeway infrastructure within the country, Samdup Lepcha requested the Ministry to explore the possibility of developing a dedicated freight ropeway corridor within the state which would not only aid in the movement of civil freight but also solve the issue of defense logistics up-to the border areas.

As the PM-Gati Shakti is also slated to be a focal point for all future development works, Shri Samdup Lepcha further requested the Union Minister to explore the possibility of integrating the planned railway extension line from Rangpo to Gangtok up to Nathula by establishing a parallel all-weather road connectivity infrastructure.

Thereafter, Minister accompanied by the Departmental officials visited the exhibition stalls put up by various road sector industries to take stock of the new technological development in the sector and explore the possibility of adopting such new technology in Sikkim too.

The conclave had the presence of Nitin Gadkari, Union Minister for Road Transport & Highways as the Chief Guest, Gen (Retd) Dr. VK Singh as Guest of Honour, PWD Ministers, Transport Ministers, Industries Ministers from various states, officials from the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, NHAI, representatives from the industry and experts from the industry.