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Is Toppakhani Tunnel awaiting another mishap?

Wet walls of Toppakhani Tunnel
I first wrote about the water droplets dripping from the ceilings of the Toppakhani Tunnel few years back in my newspaper Himalayan Review. But i had seen no progress over the years from any where regarding the mishap that could happen if the ceilings of the Toppakhani Tunnel gets collapsed. With the recent landslides that affected the neighbouring regions of Singtam i fear the 80 year old motarable tunnel might not have a pretty sights in near future.  

Broken Statue of a leopard at the tip of the Toppakhani Tunnel

This time the water channel that runs over the head of the  8 decades old Toppakhani Tunnel had exploded letting huge rocks to fall on the road at the rip of the Tunnel damaging the statues of the  small park build on the other side of the road. Few of the stones that were used on the wall of the Tunnel has fallen off while the home of bats that has been living inside the dark tunnel that does not even have a lights are much lesser than it used to be few years back.

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