I, Ashis Gurung, a permanent resident of Mirik Busty, Upper School Dara in Darjeeling have been facing problems related to road connectivity for over a month now.
Last month, the incessant rainfall, which began on 17 October 2021, and lasted for over 96 hours in the entire region of North Bengal, triggered landslides in many places of Darjeeling – Kalimpong Districts, disrupting the daily activities of the whole hilly region.
The main road link that connects the entire region of Mirik Busty, Duptin No 10, Duptin, and Murmah with the rest of the world was also swept away in many places rendering the connecting route unmotorable.
There are about 3,000 households that reside permanently in these affected areas.
It’s been over a month now since the disaster occurred, while the road link disrupted in many other places was immediately restored, Mirik Bazar to Murmah via Mirik Busty, Duptin No 10 route remains the same with no restoration activity whatsoever taken up.
Farming, Small Business, and Tourism Affected
Farming, transport, small grocery shops, homestays, dairy farming are the major sources of income for the people of the affected areas.
These economic activities mutually coexist and in turn depend primarily on physical mobility. With the total shutdown of transportation for over a month now, the people are facing severe economic, physical, and mental hardships.
Damaged roads of Mirik Busty in Darjeeling.
(Photo courtesy: Ashish Gurung)
I own and run a small homestay. It is my only source of income, the produce from my farm land is only sufficient for personal consumption and makes no contribution on my overall income level.
Mine is a family of five, including my parents, who are senior citizens. With the road communication totally cut-off, the bookings have totally stopped coming.
Broken roads in Darjeeling.
(Photo courtesy: Ashish Gurung)
Whatever advances I had taken from my guests, I had to return it without charging any cancellation fees. With bank EMI obligations, I am in complete distress.
The major bookings for homestays in our regions take place during Christmas and New Year eve, followed by the tourist season, which normally starts from the beginning of March and lasts for over three months.
This is a time when we normally have to earn for the complete year. With COVID relaxation, the tourism-related activities seemed to fall in-line a bit, but again this unwarranted disaster has made life what it was during the lockdown.
I am not the only person suffering, but there are many more homestay owners who are going through the same crisis.
Damaged roads causing problems in transportation.
(Photo courtesy: Ashish Gurung)
The allied activities like transport, vegetable farming, dairy farming, small grocery shops, are also primarily dependent on tourism. With a major demand for their products coming from homestays and the rest they sell in the markets elsewhere, they too are severely affected with this cut-off.
Orange cultivation forms the main backbone of these village economies. Siliguri offers the only regulated market in the entire region where the farmers sell their oranges.
The plucking season for the oranges begin from the mid of January. If the fruit is not plucked on time, the health of the plants and the quality of the product is doomed to deteriorate thereby severely impacting the income of the farmers.
That's just not it. With the announcement of reopening of schools and colleges by the West Bengal government after almost two years now, the students are also facing difficulties on how to commute to schools.
All the schools are located in town, the students are forced to hike for about two hours covering an uphill distance of almost 4 km.
A long-distance hike supplemented by the winter season make it difficult for the students to reach for their classes on time and in some extreme cases the students are left with no choice but to skip their school.
Authorities Visited Once, No Repair Work Started Yet
It is not that the authorities are unaware of the situation, this incident was immediately reported by several print and electronic media following which personnel from different governmental departments, regional political parties and non-government organisations visited the site, but the visit lasted only for a few days.
A formal mass petition for the restoration of the road has also been submitted to the District Magistrate Darjeeling by various societies such as Kabir Panthi Society and also Mirik Busty Drivers’ Association.
Sadly, we haven't received any response from them as of yet.
On inquiring about the progress, we are said that the tender will be floated soon. How soon? It’s been over a month now!
A copy of the application submited to the DM of Darjeeling.
(Photo courtesy: Ashish Gurung)
A copy of application submitted to the DM of Darjeeling by the Mirik Busty owners and drivers association.
(Photo courtesy: Ashish Gurung)
We, the affected people, request the concerned authority to expedite the process of restoring the damaged road and bring back normalcy in the region.
The Quint reached out to the district magistrate of Darjeeling but there has been no response. As soon as they reply, the story will be updated.
(The author runs a homestay in Darjeeling. All 'My Report' branded stories are submitted by citizen journalists to The Quint. Though The Quint inquires into the claims/allegations from all parties before publishing, the report and the views expressed above are the citizen journalist's own. The Quint neither endorses, nor is responsible for the same.)
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