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Authors Information
SequenceTypeName TitleFirst NameLast NameDepartmentInstitute / Affiliation
1 Author Ms. Archana Pathak Sociology IIT Mandi
Abstract Information
TrackID
:
IUAES23_ABS_X1512
Abstract Theme
:
P117 - Environment, Infrastructure and Development in Northeast India
Abstract Title
:
Tunneling the Himalayas: understanding the Sevoke-Rangpo Railway Project
Short Abstract
:
The Railway project in Eastern Himalayas connecting Rangpo in Sikkim to Sevoke in West Bengal is under construction. Tunnels form the main part of this project. This paper will try to understand the environmental and social impact of these 14 tunnels through ethnographic fieldwork. Muck generation and disposal form a central theme of this paper. It will document the lived experiences of people, for whom the drilling and hollowing of the mountains by the state for infrastructural development, has become an everyday affair.
Long Abstract
:

Sevoke-Rangpo Railway line is being constructed in the state of Sikkim to connect Sevoke in West Bengal to Rangpo in Sikkim. It is further expected to go all the way to Nathu La in East Sikkim. The major section of this project will pass through 14 tunnels that are under construction. This tunneling of mountains is not only environmentally dangerous, but it is also leading to the drying up of natural water streams, thus destroying people’s livelihoods. This paper will try to ethnographically study the Sevoke-Rangpo railway line through the life of these tunnels. The methods followed by engineers and construction companies to construct tunnels in the Himalayan region will be documented through ethnographic fieldwork. Additionally, the muck generated due to these construction activities and its disposal mechanisms will also be looked into. Finally, the paper will also include narratives of the people for whom this project is being built. Their temporal and material experiences of this new infrastructure and the effect on their lives will also be discussed in detail. It tries to problematize the state’s narrative of borderland infrastructural development in the fragile environment of the Eastern Himalayas and understand the lived realities of people inhabiting the region, using ethnographic fieldwork, secondary literature, and court cases.
Abstract Keywords
:
Railways, Himalayas, Tunnels