After days of disrupted connectivity caused by a landslide on the Lachen–Chungthang road, authorities began evacuating tourists from Lachen on Wednesday morning, April 8, 2026, and arranged further movements for early morning April 9, 2026. Initial batches were moved along the Dongkya La–Shiv Mandir–Zero Point–Yumthang–Lachung route under a coordinated operation led by the Indian Army and the Border Roads Organisation (BRO), with support from the District Administration, DDMA and local stakeholders.
District Collector of Mangan Anant Jain, SP LB Chettri, SDM Arun Chettri and SDPO Chandan Chhetri were present on site to oversee the operation, which proceeded in stages to manage the difficult mountain terrain and ensure passenger safety. A press release from the Mangan district administration said the prompt, joint response from Lachen Dzumsa, local volunteers, tourism officials and emergency services drew appreciation from both tourists and residents who had been monitoring the situation.
Samdup Lepcha, minister for Social Welfare and MLA for the Lachen–Mangan constituency, has been continuously monitoring the situation, the IPR release stated. On April 8 he inspected the landslide damage at Taram Chu, reviewed a temporary footbridge installed by local volunteers and the Tourism Department’s Adventure Cell to allow limited movement, and held discussions with BRO officers on the next steps. The minister thanked the Indian Army, BRO, district authorities, tourism stakeholders and the people of Lachen for their coordinated efforts.
Officials decided that the Dongkya La route used during initial evacuations would not be used for subsequent movements. Instead, remaining tourists will be evacuated via a Lachen–Taram Chu–Chungthang corridor using the newly launched temporary footbridge at Taram Chu, with arrangements in place to move people from Taram Chu onwards to Gangtok. A coordination meeting chaired by the minister and district administration finalized the plan and assigned supervision of the April 9 operation to the District Collector, with active participation from Lachen Dzumsa, local committees, the Army and BRO.
Original Source: https://www.sikkimexpress.com/news-details/evacuation-of-tourists-from-lachen-begins
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