Migrant workers in Sikkim recount nightmare as they leave for home states
59 migrant workers from different parts of India reached Bengal’s Siliguri town on Saturday night after travelling for ten hours in a Sikkim government bus
Naresh Kumar was fast asleep when police sirens woke him up around 3am on October 4. A migrant worker, Kumar recalled that fateful night when flash floods hit Sikkim which has claimed at least 82 lives so far with around 140 still missing.

“We were told that a dam located upstream of the Teesta river had collapsed and we must rush to safer places. I grabbed a bag and ran up the hill to save my life,” Kumar, who had left his home in Jammu and Kashmir and come to Sikkim for work, said.
A technician at NHPC India’s Teesta VI hydel power project in south Sikkim, Kumar is among those who witnessed the destruction.
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Kumar was among the 59 migrant workers from different parts of India who reached Bengal’s Siliguri town on Saturday night after travelling for ten hours in a Sikkim government bus which followed an alternative route through Lava and Gorubathan in Kalimpong district.
Recalling the nightmare, Kumar said, “We had less than 15 minutes to save our lives. Had we not taken shelter in the hills, our names would have figured today on the list of the deceased or those who are still missing.”
As the migrant workers prepared to leave for home, Himmat Singh from Punjab said, “The residential camp where I lived was washed away along with heavy engineering vehicles.”
Singh, who used to drive earth movers and cranes for a private company hired to carry out civic work at the 500 MW Teesta VI project, said, “The situation in Sikkim is grave to say the least. We thank the government for providing these buses for free despite the challenges it faces.”
Agam Kumar, a resident of Bihar, was a technician on the same project.
“I can only thank God for saving my life. After we managed to reach a shelter provided by NHPC, we turned some search lights at the river. It was carrying away trucks that would have otherwise sunk. The vehicles looked like toys. We heard many people crying for help,” Kumar said.
“Sikkim is witnessing new problems in the aftermath of the disaster. There is severe shortage of essential commodities because roads and communication lines have collapsed,” he added.
Several bridges and dams were destroyed in Sikkim which depends heavily on hydel power.
The dam at the 1200 MW project of Teesta Urja Limited at Chungthang was demolished along with a bridge that connected it to the power house.
A flash flood triggered by an outburst in a glacial lake in north Sikkim on Tuesday night barrelled down the river Teesta in the early hours of Wednesday killing at least 82 people while at least 140 remain missing.
