Army builds 200-feet bailey bridge to connect North Sikkim with mainland

Guwahati, Nov 17: An army official on Friday said that some areas of northern Sikkim which were cut off from the mainland after the flash flood hit the hill state in the first week of October, have now been connected again.

Lt. Col. Mahendra Rawat, PRO Guwahati, said, “Troops of the Trishakti Corps of the Indian Army, with the assistance of the Border Road Organisation (BRO), completed the bailey bridge over the Teesta River at Chungthang. This has finally connected the flood-affected areas of North Sikkim with the mainland that has been cut off since the night of October 3.”

“The bridge will now pave the way for seamless movement of vehicles and the provision of relief material to these flood-affected areas,” he added.

According to an official statement of the Indian Army, “The 200-feet Bailey Bridge is an engineering marvel in itself, as it is the longest and heaviest single-span bailey bridge that can be launched."

“Working round the clock, the BRO initially constructed the concrete abutments, followed by the bridge construction by Trishakti Sappers, which took around five days,” the statement further mentioned.

The Army officer mentioned that engineer troops of the Trishakti Corps and BRO, along with several heavy earthmoving plants, were employed for this bridging operation.