Rangpo
Rangpo is a town in Pakyong district in the Indian state of Sikkim. The town borders West Bengal's Kalimpong district and is situated along the Teesta river and Rangpo River. It is the first town in Sikkim on NH 10 (earlier called NH 31A before the renumbering of all national highways) that links Siliguri to Gangtok. It is about 300 m above sea level with a sub-tropical climate. It is the 'Gateway to Sikkim' and all vehicles entering Sikkim have to stop at the Rangpo Police check-post. Foreign tourists require documents to enter Sikkim state and  have to show them at the police check post. Geography. Rangpo is located at . It has an average elevation of 333 metres (1093 feet). The town lies on the belt of two rivers, River Teesta which comes from Dikchu-Singtam side, and River Rangpo which comes from Rongli-Rorathang side. Both river meets each other below the town. The conjunction point is named as Indrakil Prayag and is considered as a holy place by Hindus. Since River Teesta is the largest river and River Rangpo the third largest river of Sikkim so both rivers becomes violent during monsoon season especially  between June to September, hence some times the river overflows towards lower residential areas of the town and causes destruction. Transport. Roadways. As Rangpo lies on NH-10, so frequent service jeeps and taxis are available to almost all cities and towns of Sikkim and cities/towns of West Bengal like Siliguri, Kalimpong, Darjeeling, Kurseong, Jaigaon, Malbazar, Bagdogra, Panitanki etc. In Rangpo, NH-10 is joined by following major roads: Buses: Frequent buses operated by Sikkim Nationalised Transport (SNT) are available from Rangpo to Sikkim Nationalised Transport Bus Terminus (Siliguri) and Gangtok, apart from it many private buses and NBSTC buses are  available from the town to Gangtok, NJP Bus stand and Tenzing Norgay Bus Terminus, (Siliguri). Railway. Rangpo railway station is the under construction railway station in Rangpo which falls under Sevoke-Rangpo Railway Line, Alipurduar railway division of Northeast Frontier Railway. The nearby currently functioning railway stations are Sivok railway station - 55 km, Siliguri Junction -75 km and New Jalpaiguri Junction - 87 km. Airways. The nearest airport is Pakyong Airport around 25 km away and Bagdogra International Airport around 90 km away. Economy. There are many factories and companies in and nearby Rangpo. The areas like Mining, Kumrek, Chanatar etc  are home to many pharmaceutical and other factories/Industries. Rangpo Upper market along NH-10 is famous for Fast Food and Restaurants. There are many food stores in these areas. Areas like Upper market, lower market, IBM, Chanataar, Mining etc are usually crowded. The crops like Large Cardamom, Broom Plant (Kuccho) and Ginger are traded in large scale in the Rangpo Lower Market. Attractions. The places of attraction in and around Rangpo are as follows: Sports. Mining Cricket Stadium is a cricket ground in Rangpo and was established in 1997 when a match of Vijay Merchant Trophy was played between Sikkim  Under-16s and Bihar Under-16s. Previously, the ground belongs to Sikkim Mining Corporation was handed over to the Sikkim Cricket Association in 2002 to be developed as a cricket stadium. Education. There are many educational institutions in Rangpo, Sikkim Manipal Institute of Technology lies in Majitar just 2 km away from Rangpo. The famous schools of the town includes Rangpo Senior Secondary School, Chanataar Secondary School, New Horizon Academy, Little Bells School, Tiny tots School, Hans Raj Academy, Divya Jyoti Academy, Ivana Memorial School, Kumrek School, Grace Academy Kumrek etc. Demographics. India census, Rangpo had a population of 3,724. Males constitute  55% of the population and females 45%. Rangpo has an average literacy rate of 70%, higher than the national average of 59.5%: male literacy is 75%, and female literacy is 63%. In Rangpo, 13% of the population is under 6 years of age. Rangpo has a large population of Bhutias and persons of Nepali origin. Marwari and Bihari businessmen have settled in the town and own most of the shops among them are few old settlers in town who have history of business since 1912. Sikkim Railway Project. The foundation stone for construction of a new railway line from Sevoke  railway station (station code SVQ) to proposed Rangpo railway station on the border of Sikkim and West Bengal was laid in October 2009 by the vice president of India. In 2008, the line was proposed to be 53 km long with broad gauge track with only a few tunnels but the final alignment is 45 km long with more number of tunnels. Of this, 3.5 km will be in Sikkim state and the rest in West Bengal state. The track will have 28 bridges and 14 tunnels and 38.6 km of the track will be in tunnels. The track will  be constructed through the foothills of the Kanchanjungha mountain range and the Teesta river valley. New railway stations will be constructed at Riayang, Geil Khola, Teesta Bazaar, Melli and Rangpo. The Indian Railways signed a contract with the construction company, IRCON, only in May 2010 though the foundation stone had been laid in October 2009. The final alignment had not been fixed for the first 22 km through elephant sanctuary forest even in 2013 and the final clearance of environment ministry had not been received. To obtain approval of the environment and forest ministry, the railways made a proposal in  February 2013 to install elephant sensors along the stretch of the proposed railway line in Mahananda elephant sanctuary or run the trains at a speed of only 20 km per hour in the forest area and stop when an elephant is sighted close to the track. People of two villages in East Sikkim, through which a 3.5 km stretch of the 45 km long railway line has been planned, had not agreed to give their land for laying the track. The Supreme Court of India approved the project in February 2016 with strict guidelines of the National Wildlife Board that  cleared the project in June 2015 but ordered restricted speed, wireless animal tracking sensors and allowed digging of tunnels only during daytime. However, a "No Objection Certificate" (NOC) was still needed from the gram sabhas (village councils) of all the villages in Darjeeling and Kalimpong districts in West Bengal through which the track will pass. The construction cannot start without the NOC. However, the Gram Sabhas do not exist due to non-holding of rural elections in the Hills for the past several years and therefore no NOC could be obtained. This is a catch 22 situation holding up  the commencement of construction. The project cost has escalated from the estimated cost of Rs.13.4 billion in 2008 to Rs.60 billion and construction of the railway line has not started even in 2018. Railway Board chairman visited and met the Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) officials on 2 March 2018 to discuss the status of the project. Finally a NOC was issued by GTA on 11 April 2018 on behalf of the villages. However, no tender has been issued and no bid has been invited for the project after April 2018. The railway line is needed for security and socio-economic  reasons. The railway line will help troops and armaments move faster towards the Indo-Tibet border. The new railway line allow easier access to the rest of India through Siliguri. It will boost the state's economy and tourism.