GANGTOK, Oct 9: The members of the team sent by the Centre to Sikkim on Monday visited
different areas of the state that have been ravaged by the flash flood, officials said.
The team, which has officers from different central ministries, also held a meeting with Chief
Secretary VB Pathak and senior state government officials.
They then went to the affected areas in Gangtok, Pakyong and Mangan districts. Among the areas
they visited were IBM, Rangpo, ATTC-Bardang, Golitar, Singtam, Dikchu and Phidang, officials said.
The members of the team assessed the damage caused to buildings, power lines, roads and bridges.
They inspected the Indreni and Sirwani bridges as well as the suspension bridges at Jhorlungay and
20th Mile in Majhitar.
They also visited a relief camp in Majigaon to get a first-hand view of the ongoing relief and
rehabilitation efforts.
The inter-ministerial central team made recommendations for the maintenance of proper sanitation
at the relief centres and suggested mental health counselling for the inmates, officials said.
On the financial assistance, they said that priority will be given to immediate and short-term
requirements of the state, and assured that release of funds will be expedited so that normalcy can
be restored at the earliest.
The team will visit some of the affected areas in Mangan and North Sikkim on Tuesday.
The death toll in the flash flood rose to 34 on Monday, officials in Sikkim said, while the
administration in adjoining northern West Bengal said that 40 bodies have been fished out from the
downstream of the Teesta river.
A total of 105 people have been missing six days after a cloudburst over Lhonak Lake in Mangan
district caused an upsurge in Teesta river, flooding several towns and villages in the river basin
across four districts of the Himalayan state. (PTI)
