Gangtok: Troopers of the Trishakti Corps of the Indian Army, along with the Border Roads Organisation (BRO), have successfully completed the construction of a 200-foot Bailey bridge over the Teesta River at Chungthang in North Sikkim.
The bridge was re-inaugurated by Sikkim Roads and Bridges minister, Samdup Lepcha, in presence of officials of Indian Army, BRO and the civil administration on Thursday.
The 200-feet long bridge is an engineering marvel in itself as it is the longest and heaviest single span Bailey bridge that can be launched.
Chungthang was cut off with the rest of the country since October 3 when a bridge was washed away after a glacial lake outburst flood (GLOF) in the Lhonak Lake upstream. This bridge serves as the life line of Lachen and Lachung Valley in North Sikkim.
Initially, the BRO constructed the concrete abutments followed by the bridge construction by Trishakti Sappers that took around five days.
Engineer Troops of the Trishakti Corps and BRO along with several heavy Earth Moving plants were employed for this bridging operation.
“Sappers and BRO toiled round the clock and completed the entire bridge in a record time of five days,” the Trishakti Corps said on Tuesday in its post on X.
Meanwhile, vehicular connectivity to disaster-affected Lachen and Lachung Region has been established on Thursday after construction of Bailey Bridge at Chungthang over River Teesta by Army and BRO bridging experts of Project Swastik.
