Proud to be a Sikkimese: Sikkim Travel, Culture & Local Heritage

My first fantasy over Sikkim history started with this nameplate ‘1929 Burn & Co. Ltd, Bridge Builders, Howah’ found hanging atop of the front and the backside of the old iron bridge at Singtam joining the District Hospital Singtam with the bazaar. I believe this is the oldest iron bridge still functional though these days limited to foot walk.  For 91 years it has been an identification of Singtam and this heritage bridge is getting its major facelift these days, a crown added to its legacy. This bridge connected Siliguri, Darjeeling, Kalimpong, and other regions to Gangtok via Rangpo - Singtam motorable road. Well, I might be lucky enough to say that I had even seen bullock carts passed by this bridge till the late 80s.  Tracing back the establishment of Burn & Co. Ltd, I found that according to an old record found in 1809, a company ‘Burn & Currie’ had Alexander Burn as the Head of the company along with another gentleman Mr. Currie. Currie left the ...

Sikkim's oldest iron bridge at Singtam is getting a facelift. The 1929 build bridge will have stairs for public to cross the bridge. Suresh Pradhan, resident of Lal Bazaar, Singtam is the contractor.

My outlook towards the Heritage Management Seminar-2 Singtam’s Heritage One of the interesting topics of the day (at Two Days Seminar on Strategy for Heritage Management for Sikkim organised by the Cultural Department at Denzong Residency) I really enjoyed was about the talk on Cultural Resource Mapping of Sikkim beautifully presented before the listeners. To be serious I never knew much about this till that day. The objectives of cultural resource management are the preservation, conservation and enhancement of cultural resources. Since being a student of Sikkim History, the topic of preservation and conservation too holds an important terms in my dictionary. While going through the presentation I was talking within myself did it featured the four historical landmark of Singtam. Here I am talking about the four monuments I wish the State Government could take interest on. These includes the Old Iron Bridge (1929), Toppakhani Tunnel (late 1920s), Pre-merger Sikkim Milepost and Old H...