Sikkim earthquake: Chinese threat making Sikkim suffer

KOLKATA: Nearly a week after the September 18 earthquake in Sikkim, relief hasn’t yet reached the interior areas of this tiny state. Reason: The state lacks infrastructure, particularly roads and airfields , which would have speeded up succour to the people of the state.

Advanced landing grounds and roads had not been developed as mandarins in Delhi feared such infrastructure would help the Chinese over-run the region in the event of a repetition of the 1962 border conflict.

The Air Force is still finding it difficult to move men and equipment to the worstaffected areas. Eastern Air Command sources said mobilization would have been faster had the IAF managed to land AN-32 or a similar large transport aircraft close to Mangan, Chungthang or Lachung.

“Delhi woke up from its slumber only recently to realize that infrastructure development is required in the northeast. This shift from its Pakistan-centric approach has led to development of facilities in Assam and Arunachal Pradesh. It may take some more time for infrastructure to be built in north or east Sikkim,” said a state government source.

The Union defence ministry was able to successfully reason that Sikkim should be left underdeveloped for “strategic” purposes. The fear was if China were to carry out a lightning strike across the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in north Sikkim, it would be able to take the entire state by using the infrastructure built by the Union or the state government.

“The philosophy was that should such a strike take place and Indian forces be compelled to fall back, the Chinese should not get access to infrastructure that would help consolidate its position ,” said the official.
“In reality, this was a ridiculous strategy. China is rapidly building infrastructure on the Tibet side and lack of infrastructure on our side won’t deter them. It is a matter of concern that no ALGs exist in Sikkim,” said another official.

The Army is now considering a Mountain Strike Corps and may station ultralight howitzers and light tanks along the LAC. Now, IAF might also consider ALGs in north and east Sikkim .

50 tremors in Sikkim after earthquake

A senior Met official said Sikkim suffered 50 tremors since Sunday’s devastating earthquake. “Sikkim has shaken 50 times since Sunday, of which only eight were felt by inhabitants. The rest measured between one and three in magnitude,” state Met office-in-charge Gopinath Rana said. On Thursday night, a mild tremor struck panic in the state.

On Friday evening, Gangtok’s worst fears came true when two multi-storeyed buildings in the Baluwakhani area collapsed, trapping eight people. Seven of them were rescued but one worker was missing and is feared dead. A senior At 6.10pm, an eight-storey residential building owned by a former minister collapsed, bringing down an adjacent five-storey building owned by state sports secretary Karma Bhutia. Soccer star Bhaichung Bhutia had the office of his Sikkim United Football Club in the second building. It has been raining incessantly since the quake. The area had been declared unsafe and its inhabitants were evacuated on Thursday.