Ministers get to keep their Toyota Prados and office equipment

As per a circular from the Ministry of Finance (MoF), the Prime Minister, outgoing Cabinet Ministers, Speaker of the National Assembly, Chairman of the National Council and the Opposition Leader will be allowed to keep their government duty Toyota Prados.

In a separate government circular, the ministers will also be allowed to keep their office laptop, computers, printer, i-pad and mobile phones that were bought for office use by their respective ministries.

The MoF circular on duty vehicles is based on a letter from the Prime Minister’s Office copied to all the ministers, around two weeks ago, which stated that during an audience with His Majesty the King at the Lingkana Palace, the Prime Minister and ministers were granted the government duty vehicles as a soelra.

A government official said, “What we heard was that the Prime Minister approached His Majesty the King, and the soelra was thus granted.”

Another source said, “When the Head of the Government requests or even indicates a request for such a soelra, His Majesty the King in all his graciousness will grant it.”

The Cabinet Secretary, Dasho Penden Wangchuk said that he was aware of the existence of the government circular.

The MoF circular has been sent accordingly to the Department of National Properties, where it is understood to have been said that the ministers and others can change the vehicle registration from government license and number plates to private ownership and private number plate.

Each duty vehicle (Toyota Prado) was worth around Nu 1.4 mn when purchased in 2008. A Toyota Prado at the current market rate, with the taxes and the model upgrade taken into account, is worth around Nu 3 mn.

The Prime Minister has been using a Toyota Crown luxury vehicle as his duty vehicle as well.

For the ministers, Lyonpo Dr. Pema Gyamtsho, Lyonpo Nandalal Rai, Lyonpo Thakur S Powdyel, Lyonpo Dorji Wangdi, Lyonpo Zangley Drukpa and Lyonpo Minjur Dorji, and the Speaker of the National Assembly, Chairman of the National Council and the Opposition Leader, this will be their first Toyota Prado to keep as a soelra.

Lyonpo Yeshey Zimba, Lyonpo Khandu Wangchuk and Lyonchhen Jigmi Y Thinley have earlier received a Toyota Prado each, during the first pre-democracy terms as ministers in 1998-2002. After a second term as ministers in 2002-2007, they were again allowed to keep their government duty Toyota Land Cruisers and Toyota Prados.

With the latest circular, Lyonpo Yeshey Zimba and Lyonpo Khandu Wangchuk will now have three Toyota Prados and a Toyota Land Cruiser to keep from their years as ministers. The Prime Minister will have a luxury vehicle or a Toyota Prado to add to the Toyota Land Cruiser and two Toyota Prados received earlier.

Lyonpo Wangdi Norbu and Lyonpo Ugyen Tshering had served for just one term in the previous pre- democracy government, and will have a total of Two Toyota Prados and a Toyota Land Cruiser each.

Currently, the ministers get around Nu 80,000 as salary, Nu 200,000 in annual discretionary grant, free bungalow housing, free electricity, free phone bills, free fuel, higher DSA for travels, a driver and a bodyguard. Unknown to many, the Cabinet has also issued allowances for cooks and housemaids for the ministers.

Another government source added, “To be fair, in 2008 the MPs got Nu 700,000 and a vehicle quota to buy vehicles for themselves, which they now own and followed later by a driver’s allowance. The ministers due to their rank were allotted government Prados, and so like the MPs and in keeping with the past precedent, ministers should be allowed to keep their vehicles.”

When contacted, the Prime Minister asked this paper to refer to the Finance Ministry for the details. Both Lyonpo Yeshey Zimba and Lyonpo Dorji Wangdi declined to comment.

Tenzing Lamsang / Thimphu

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220 comments

  1. It’s a well deserved perk. However, in their benevolence and any moral discomfort they may experience due to an exchequer in heavy debt, they should be most welcome to refuse or donate to a good cause.

    • No! they should not. It is soelre for their achievement. Congratulations for their achievement. They must all come back to serve with same spirit.

    • May Pelden Drukpa protect Tenzing Lamsang, Keep up your good work. Tashi Delek.

      • tENZING LAmsang has single handedly brought our subservient media, controled by govt and the elite into a dynamic, transparent and vibrant media as young democrasy is being urshered in. without lamsang’s hard work and contribution to change to facade of media here in the country, plus with a minute yet effective opposition, the start to our democrasy has been mired with controversy, corruption and cowardice, with public being kept in aloof with all the sweetest of words.

        Therefore, thank you lamsang and we appreciate your hard work to make bhutanese media vibrant as in other democratic countries. 
        We hope at next national day, His Majesty bestowe upon you the red scraf and pataa for your contribution to make media vibrant and strong. 

        Tashi delek and keep up the good works despite threats, abuse and ill treatment of your media. YOu know you are doing the right work and public are behind you1!

    • It is a shame that these deceitful bunch of DPT ministersare using HM’s soelra to hide their cunning act. IT is reported that they have approached HM for this grant of SUVs. They even tried to drag our good OL in this cunning n decietful act, but OL couldnt’ be fooled. He has respectfully returned not only his kabney, pataa but also SUV prado. WEL DONE OL. 
      shame shame DPT ministers. PLS don’t drag HM name and solra in this greedy act. you have failed to lead n show good example, yet you always teach tha damsi n ley gyu dre, 

  2. It is sad to see our leaders would not show an example even when the country is going through acute Rupee problems. If i were Prime Minister, i would not need two or three Prados for my personal use. It is a great opportunity to be an exemplary leader but this PM has failed to secure my vote by being so insatiable even when the country is going through such deep cuts due to R problem. Incredible….GNH leaders are truly insatiable. An average Bhutanese people are even not able to buy their first family maruti car, but these so-called leaders piles up with Prados…..one after another….I think bhutanese people should seriously consider before pressing the wrong EVM button this time….

    • this is the show of sheer greed and disregards for public good. our leaders have failed to lead us by example they preach. This I have been observing from my school days and still goes on lead by same leaders. that is why we should change them or we will never improve as a nation. the sad thing is they think they are doing great! That is is the biggest irony and hypocracy in a GNH Nation.

      • All the MP’s have their share of seven lakh plus…why not Ministers? They deserve and should be entertained positively! 

        • Kezang Namthey Sayge Gyelpo

          Shame on all who have received any benefits but could not bring any major reforms in our country.shame on all senior policy makers for transcending with Nu. 222.72 billion worth national credits.
          No shame.

  3. If MPs deserve 700,000 to buy car, i think it is fair for cabinets to get their used prado…. After all, they had to shoulder such a big responsibilities and, more so, they are being thoroughly grilled by media. For some, even age old issues were dug just coz they are in politics and had to face ACC and court while others who haven’t joined politics are enjoying without being under media glare. 

    • What if they come up with laws like Tobacco Act? What if they aggravate Rupees problem? What if they lie to public? What if they have to pay 9 million us dollar to McKenzie to get advice to build one internet service portal or tell them that Fe500 is better than another Fe? What if they build a mighty IT park fortress with 8 million us loaned dollars without any return ? What if they rush to built domestic runways that need repairs as soon as they were completed? What if they throw away millions for Education City project that will be another failed project?….Is that what you mean by shouldering responsibility?

      • Please stop being stupid, what you say has nothing to do with this discussion.

      • u can see only from negative prism of the glass!! So, nothing will make u happy. The other side of the list is endless to mention…And, this is not first time, such practice was there long time back. There will be wisdom in giving solrea!!!! So, let us not be cynical in everything and question everything under the sun!!!

      • I agree with what Karma said. They have been elected with utmost trust that they will do good. And for their service they are paid salaries much higher than yours and mine. If they have to expect something like what you say then, where is loyalty to TSA WA SUM, dedication if you need to be paid for all the services you do which by default is your responsibility.

        Common.

        • They were elected with utmost trust but let the people down and brought this country to its economic knees. Too much corruption and nepotism under DPT’d governance. They only thought for themselves. Any other party will be preferable to DPT that only robs our country, makes the rich richer and poor poorer.

  4. Dear readers, We have to think and think on such issues. We are talking about millions of nugultrum here. We do not mind HM granting such gracious soelra to Ministers who served our country selflessly. However, should those Ministers who have already received in the past not refuse such soelras? Why take away all the office equipment s? It neither looks good nor a good example. They already got enough as Minsters the associated benefit. But still craves so much. they should know their limitations and say no. Greed is like a salt water. The more you drink the more you feel thirsty. Otherwise why preach GNH and do not practice themselves which is to know the limit. Be satisfied with what you have. It is indeed a sad thing. There are people who do not have a slipper to wear but some Ministers are taking away 3 0r even four Prado without any compunctions but tells other to feel content with what they have! This is definitely not a good example for a resource starved country like Bhutan. Our civil servants are even not given adequate papers and other stationary in the name of budget constrains. Bhutanese people must ponder on such issues and ponder deeply too.

    • This is your last time to exit. We the people are not going to vote DPT this time. We favour other new party. All the time GNH GNH GNH. What is this? Who propounded? Not JYT. It is Gross Notorious and Hungry minister who takes our properties because we have paid for the government. Please take a leave and go to hell. What is ACC and RAA is looking when so many vehicle is taken, no memo is there. DPT OUT OF 2013 VOTE BANK.

      • Wai! It’s non of your business. You always see the other side of the fence is greener. It is wrong. You are critically plagued with attitude problem. It’s being granted by our HM as soelrey for which all excellent performance is seen. Who are you to judge on behalf of all Bhutanese saying about voting. Its upto you whether you vote or not but do not poison others mind by just pouring your wrong views.

        • It wasn’t granted soelra by His Majesty out of his free will because this govt did well. When the PM requests His Majesty to give his DPT ministers the Prados etc. our King will never refuse and embarrass PM, while PM does so many things to embarrass our King.Everyone knows this corrupt govt ruined our economy in 5 years and we still have the PM trying to lie and fool the country telling the people that our economy is fine and we have no INR problem at all.

  5. I think this is very scandalous, come on OL, decline the offer and I am sure other ministers will have no option but to follow your example, in simple terms, put your money where your mouth is.

    • How about PM and other Ministers leading in this example who are  three time recipient of such kidu?

      • Wisdom, you are anything but what your nick means, if you had any presence of mind, you would have realized that I mentioned the OL, only because he and Dasho Damcho were the ones who made such a big public display of discarding their Kabneys for white Kabneys just so as to prove a point.

        Now if the OL can discard his Lyonpo Kabney just for the last day, why is it difficult for him not to accept the Prado, if he did so, the rest would follow. if they did not, you will be the first one to crucify them. And, that is where the idiom, put your money where your mouth is becomes relevant. 

        Otherwise, its just more of the same rhetoric from our OL, while he will take cheap shots to discredit the RGOB, he will not sacrifice anything himself.

        • OL is a firts time recipient of such soelra. Surely why can’t other multiple buildings and prado owners reject this soelra so that future ministers wont have to buy new prados. Prados can be reused for decades if taken proper care like my alto that i use every year.

          • First time or not, he tried to prove a point by wearing a white kabney when it was not necessary, so it is now up to him to say no to the Prado too, if he did that, others would follow, saving the RGOB millions in revenue.

        • Good,
          Thank you for your comment in line with your nick too. I am very much present in myself. Do not worry on that. I can take care of myself. It seems you do not know who have more responsibility to lead. Is it the opposition or the govt? Is it the PM or OL? Just because OL criticizes the govt does not mean you should single him out on every issue. Pl be fair. We are democracy and criticizing where need must be welcomed for improvement and not react like a pro. Why just single him out? After all there are 11 Ministers who takes away 11 prados (plus we do not know plus who got in the past) and who do you think is wasting our money? 1=11? I thought kidu is only for those in real need! The country is going through financial crisis. Huge debt, rupee crisis. The Ministry of Finance is cutting budgets on every opportunity they can in the name of budget shortage and here we see a bunch of irresponsible Ministers showing no scrupulous and taking away very expensive prados! Leaders who preach us on moral issues, GNH? Ha. What a big joke. And you seem to support them. We have such people here too. Very sad. But what can we do? At least discourage them from such act or vote them out. Do you know some Minsters getting such kidus three times? Why can’t they refuse? I know we have many preachers but no takers because they do not practice themselves. Sad thing is there people like you who support such actions! May god save us.

          • Haha Wise guy, you still did not get my point, it was the OL who wanted to prove to the world that he was different by coming out in a white kabney, so the onus is on him to decline the Prado, otherwise his much publicized photos in a white kabney means shit all. At the same time, I am not too thrilled that the present Ministers got a Prado each, my point here, is that, if the OL after making so much noise should have refused the Prado and than the others would follow and those that did not, we would crucify.

          • Very true, I am distraught with these leaders. Leaders should be leading by example but looking at their actions breaks my heart.  Our country is going through a crisis and even to get a simple loan the normal folks have to go through so much ,and here they are plundering and plundering (upto the extent of taking taking public property)  They have set the foundation of democracy on greed ! and i expected better than this from the opposition Leader.  
            Moreover  the current vehicles can be used by the next set of  ministers saving government cost. What if the some of the ministers again serve as ministers in the next term(i hope not ), are they again going to keep another one as Soelra. The first term of  government should not accept these because it is clearly a bad example! And the conservative thinking of denying soelra is bad or whatever,  should be done with. C’mon,for how long are we going to keep tolerating these. We surely need a  leaders who are  not bound by greed and who lives by what they preach .

    • Lets See if OL will decline..

      • If we keep on pressuring in this forum, he may because he have childish behaviors!

        • First lets see the PM and Ministers decline and lead by example. This will be their biggest contribution they would have made to the country after ripping the country off for the last 5 years.

    • Flabbergasted

      If not for this newspaper, we would have never heard of anything like this. Even the OL kept quiet and took his Prado. These people are all the same, only in different clothing, the end goal of all of them being the same.

      From now on, am going to support this newspaper with any little that I can give or do. The Bhutanese, if you are short of fund, please find ways so that the people can support you. Maybe some monthly donation or anything. That way, you will the official voice of the people. Not dictated by big businesses or the government. I don’t mind paying a little so that these greedy jackals can be exposed of their actions. 

    • Anything received as soelre from HM is considered precious. o one would like to refuse or give to others. It could be highly disrespect to HM if it is not accepted and kept for self. It is precious gift for the successful completion of their tenure and HM is grateful to them. I think it is not wise on our part to plead our PM, CM and OL to give away their precious soelre whether they have 2 or 3 or 100 such vehicles. They deserve it and it is theirs. We must be proud despite feeling jealouse.

      • We Bhutanese need to get away from this mindset which says that declining any soelra from His Majesty is disrespectful and the sooner we do it, the better. 

      • Flabbergasted

        Asking for Soelras in the first place is what beggars do and when those beggars already have more than enough, they are no better than pigs.

        By the way, they will sell off their Prados as soon as they transfer the ownership, and they will sell off their prados for more than what it was paid for. Yeah, import ban, tax increase, in the end, its all a plan to enrich their insatiable greed. Where is the respect when they do it?

  6. It is a property of the state. They are bought using the taxes that people paid to government or by using other common resources.  I paid taxes. So why should such people take away properties, assets such as these, to certain people while citizens are restricted from buying vehicles.
    For fairness and accountability, these public assets should have been disposed through public auctions, providing every 700,000 citizen a chance to own these assets. Public auctions is the only method to transparency and trust among citizens, trust in leadership and civility among leadership. No wonder former cabinet and mps did not mind issuing circular stopping other citizens from buying a necessary items such as a vehicle. The circular is flawed and outright denial of human rights provided for in the constitution.
    If they are not disposed through auction, taking away public property this way is against the procurement manual. It is a blatant corruption. ACC and Audit must take this case up for citizens that entrusted them to look into such issues. 
    If this not a corruption, can anyone who were provided properties to facilitate their official status functions to deliver results to people , can just take away with them as and when their official status ceases? What is happening ber? No individual person owns a public property.
    This is setting a precedence and it is a responsibility and accountability killer in any organizational setting and in any society. This kind of things do not happen in a near- rational society and in developed countries. 
    No wonder we are damn poor in our belief, values, judgement, decision making etc, factors required for effective development and growth.  As a consequence, people have remained  poor and the country is underdeveloped. 

    • Dont make ACC’s horn Longer….It is long enough that it is having tough time!

    • Flabbergasted

      What can ACC and RAA do? What they are doing is legal corruption. If not for the recent ACC cases, they would have given themselves the prados and vehicles without anyone’s consent or permission. But now they have become smarter and have dragged in our HM in their ridiculous pursuit of self enrichment. 

      Am sure even HM must have felt ashamed that they asked for soelras. By the way, I thought soelras were given and not asked. They shouldn’t call it soelras. It sounds more like shameless begging. 

  7. By the way, they have to pay BST and green tax imposed by them through circular since other citizens paid their dues as required. It is unfair and unconstitutional not to pay. 
    The new government should dump this circular of vehicle-purchase restriction. People need vehicles to travel around. This does not help people! Period! 

  8. OL should have politely used this scenario for the government to keep the Prados and save our limited budget to some extent…

    • The OL had the best opportunity to make the PM and DPT Minister’s look so out of touch with the ground realities in the country and he missed. So for all his rhetoric of discarding his Kabney, he is no different from the PM and Ministers he keeps on trying to bash.

      At the same time, a very bad move by the ruling government, they should all return their vehicles and make OL look like the fool he really is.

      • Flabbergasted

        Even though the OL received his prado, by no means he will look bad if the government gave back their gifts. Its very obvious that this ridiculous begging request came from those DPT ministers themselves. JYT would have never asked HM if the OL said he wanted his prado.

        PM, DPT ministers are just shameless in begging for their vehicles.
        OL, NC Chairman aren’t any better by accepting it.

        • Who the hell told you that it was the DPT that begged for the Prado’s and if it was so, don’t you think it would make perfect sense for the OL to decline. So without knowing the facts, please don’t go shooting off your mouth.

          • DPT is not only corrupt but even making our country poorer by begging
            for Prados etc. when our country can’t afford it. On one hand our DPT ministers always say our country is poor and we must practice austerity measures on the other hand if it benefits themselves they will take, and take, and take. When it comes to themselves benefiting the don’t care what state our country is in. They always put themselves before the country. Right from the day they came to power they only talked about raising their salaries a benefits. Out with the hypocrites and liars!!

  9. Good Luck! This the least that we expect from the first democratically elected government who promised equity and justice.

    • Their equity and justice is true on two conditions:
      1. on paper 
      2. on the lips of draconian PM

  10. 1. We are of the view that they should stop robbing country’s resources.
    2. Need a proper system in place- who recommended for soelra
    3. For common people, when we go for kidu there is a proper system to be entitled for kidu/soelra.
    4. If our people at the top continue to abuse the system and continue to satisfy their greed and benefit themselves, our country’s future looks very bleak. So sad!.
    These bunch of Ministers have been draining public resources for so long and they still want to own the govt Prados. This is gross misuse of power, authority and need to stop it immediately. These Prados are required for the next MPs/Ministers, we are already under Rupee crises. What these Jokers like Ministers are doing………..
    This act of our Ministers will be even more grave and serious than the Gyelposhing land scandal.. we should stop this kind of barter system and horse trading…no more cheating the public. This is a democratic nation and this Ministers need to behave likewise instead of becoming dictators and robbing the Prados that belonged to the public of this nation. This clearly shows there is severely lack of “check and balance system”. We only hope that they will understand the implication of their misuse of the power to grab the Prados and they will reconsider their decisions and not take the Prados.

  11. GIVE NO HAPINESS GET NO HAPPINESS

    This is daylight robbery. The govt increase tax, ban businesses n ministers get everything for free. The ministers should ask people, public since it is our money. I dont support such criminal act.

  12. Laugh, laugh and laugh until your hearth burst out. After sucking the country for five long years and sending the nation to crisis after crisis they have the strength to hide the shame and take everything to their home…This is a comedy of error at its best..an error that we all made in choosing the democracy and hungry jackals for the leaders.

  13. Meser Nyamchung

    It is really unbearable. Such unilateral decisions are only to increase the gap between haves and have-nots. Shame to DPT…

  14. We heard even Dasho Gado got a prado as soelra upon his request. I believe kidu is for the poor who are in dire need and this high ranking official should not ask for kidu in the first place.They should in fact refuse it even if our kings out their benevolence and graciousness offer them. The DPT govt is a first democratically elected govt and if they really have love for the country and the people they should have come up with a acceptable system for the sake of our future. In stead they are setting a very bad and selfish precedent by such action. People should think about such issues deeply since this has a huge cost implication on. No offense to all our respected Ministers but they should be reminded of their actions if we think is not moral or wrong.

    • Here, I agree with you fully.

    • Very true, I am distraught with these leaders. Leaders should be leading by example but looking at their actions breaks my heart.  Our country is going through a crisis and even to get a simple loan the normal folks have to go through so much ,and here they are plundering and plundering (upto the extent of taking taking public property)  They have set the foundation of democracy on greed ! and i expected better than this from the opposition Leader.  
      Moreover  the current vehicles can be used by the next set of  ministers saving government cost. What if the some of the ministers again serve as ministers in the next term(i hope not ), are they again going to keep another one as Soelra. The first term of  government should not accept these because it is clearly a bad example! And the conservative thinking of denying soelra is bad or whatever,  should be done with. C’mon,for how long are we going to keep tolerating these. We surely need a  leaders who are  not bound by greed and who lives by what they preach .

  15. They should know that this is our TAX MONEY that they are taking!! They say they are there for us “the people” and what do they do, they simply rob us off at the end. Imagine, how much could have been done with that one prado’s money. One prado’s cost could easily build a hostel for students in some remote areas where they are living in shacks!! or a decent home for a farmer in remote village. THINK about them, you greedy foxes!

  16. Habitual maa-jin-pa-len-pa’s progression into insatiable greed is slowly but surely turning into a deadly addiction. Is there anyone who can convert those GNH theorists to practical GNH student? How can they who are well provided for asked for solra. Disgusting!

  17. What soelra, Its like raining in the Ocean. everything goes to Ministers and influentual peoples. We the low and middle class receiven salar of Nu.more than 8000.00 has to pay PIT with out understanding our groun reality. If they really want to give Solera convert that cars into Money and distrubute it among poor citizens in which it will benefit 1000 of people. We make money by sweating in hot and chilling in cold how can they take it as Solera after all it belongs to People of BHUTAN.

  18. Glorified Clerk

    Bravo! The Bhutanese for taking this kind of inside stories out in the public. No other newspaper does this. Our people should know what our leaders are truly made of.

  19. That is called rich getting richer. Poor people will remain poor no matter how hard we try. This type of situation won’t help shaping our democracy toward better path, create more muddy in clear pond. 

  20. These Ministers are encouraging the public to come out in the street with the banners to demonstrate the public outcry against the corruption and misuse of power by these selfish Ministers. Hope they will consider public opinion very seriously and take corrective measures immediately; otherwise it may not be too surprising to see public demonstration leading to chaos and anarchy.

    The preachers of GNH who espouse and preaches the negative implication human desire for unlimited wealth and wants need to first practice themselves instead of applying it as tool to manipulate the innocent rural populace in the villages of Bhutan. The optimistic thing is, there are enough number of educated Bhutanese to bring these Ministers to task if they do not know how to behave as Ministers. It has been since when these Ministers have continued to get Prados, land cruisers for themselves.
    It is time we are raising against anyone abusing system and take public resources to benefit themselves. We will rise against these people openly and we know it is risky but we also feel it is worthy of the cause.
    Now you can judge how much people are frustrated because of the misuse of the power at the top. We will not give up, we will continue to fight against the wrong doing and the corrupt system!

  21. These people are no less than beggars. Rich greedy beggars.

    – They beg for votes giving false promises
    – After being elected, the first thing they discuss in parliament is their entitlements
    – They turn the country upside down, neglecting important matters, instead concenrtrating on their own self interests
    – After their term ends, they beg our king for prados and land cruisers

    Now they will again come begging for our votes. Be careful of who you vote for!

    Very shameful of them, especially the ones who have already received many prados and land cruisers before. If I were them, I would not even be able to raise my head and face the public.

    If these things are going to happen, we should do the following:
    – Ask the donor countries to stop giving us any funds. Its better to put those funds to better use in their own countries rather then help support a country led by greedy people, who pockets majority of the funds.
    – Stop paying our taxes. The little taxes we pay is nothing compared to the national assets these people rob our country of. But for us, the taxes we pay are a lot and constitutes a major portion of our earnings! We work hard all round the year, pay PIT, BIT. We are no saints nor millionaires, we should not be working to feed these greedy pigs.

    Just shameful and sad.

    5 years of democracy has been there to only make this poor country poorer by way of election expenditure, salaries and benefits for useless MPs and ministers. Soon it will turn GNH into GNP(Gross National Poverty).

  22. GNH preachers possessing three prados by an individual… a good balance between spiritualism and materialism… and so crazy to take all those office equipments..

  23. Although they may have deserved the soelra, keeping the country’s needy in mind, the least they can do as exemplary statesmen is to auction the vehicles off and donate the proceeds to charity.

    If they truly have the best interest of the people at heart, it should be an integral part of their lives even if they are no longer in office.

    Your move to restore faith in the executive, dear beneficiaries of the great people of the Kingdom of Bhutan.

  24. If His Majesty awarded prados as solar, why should we complain and be envious? If they don’t deserve, will His Majesty award the solar? Learn to appreciate good deeds when you know how to complain.

  25. This is truly shocking, and makes a mockery of the GNH claims to support “SUSTAINABLE and EQUITABLE development”. There’s nothing either sustainable, equitable or democratic about this enriching of the already rich from the public purse.

    It seems that Bhutan is taking India as its model for government, and following India’s lead in sanctioning corruption, greed and rising inequality.

    It’s encouraging, as an earlier commentator observed, to see that at least one newspaper in the nation aspires to be a democratic mouthpiece and act as if the free press was a reality. Bravo indeed to the Bhutanese!

    And, also as an earlier commentator mentioned, it would be a fine thing to see the OL lead by example and refuse to sanction this misuse of public funds.

    This brings shame on the outgoing government and on Bhutan’s democratic experiment.

  26. i have read non of the comments but the article and   its so saddening to see our very trusted govenrment officials trying to keep the government property even after seeing the crisis in country with their own eyes. this gives the vivid image that we only talks on GNH but when chance comes even the man who talks about it forgets. i m not happy la dashos.

    • they are not sparing even computers and printers of their office ya? What a poor show of example! I feel sick and will take casual leave today to rest. I am getting a bad bad headache. I cannot imagine our responsible Ministers doing this on us. Paracetamol is not working any more. I cannot bear it la. 

  27. Why does anyone need to do this? buying another round of so many vehicles will cost so much USD. WHY WHY every one is like this, let every one work for this country….i have lost hope

  28. Oppn Leader Tshering Tobgay, Please deposit your prado to Finance Ministry , why only taking out Kabney and Patang !!! will you do that to show. This man call Zimba Mafia, building multi crore hotel in middle of city has so many pardos , oh my go he will buy everything in next terms if DPT comes back to power.

  29. Shame to DPT, First thing thre is no GNH, no JUSTICE, no EQUITY. Its only said n forgoten n it is only a speeach they menction every time they speek, WE THE BHUTANESE CITIZEN HAVE TO THINK TWICE.

  30. DPT government and its ministers are out to make GNH a practical philosophy; only to fulfill their own greed. This is not the end of it, more happiness is desired, so more plunder of the State’s wealth will be on the cards. 
     
    That is not ‘selfless service’. Wen is the last time that any body has served selflessly in Bhutan? ‘Selfless service’ is a jargon government servants use to cover how much they have benefitted and or looted while in service. What they have today is owed completely to the government. 

    GNH is extremely hierarchical. It is for those who can decide how happy they should be; just one cabinet meeting and the ministers are done. 

  31. Shame on all the ministers! PM preaching GNH to poor people while he is just stockpiling government Prados. what a hypocrite? How in the world can they justify this? Where is people voice? Did people approve them to take away these state properties? 
    🙁 🙁 🙁
    Dear opposition leader, am counting on you. Be a man of your word and show your patriotism which might earn 1000s of votes in few months form now. 

     

    • OL is the biggest hypocrite going around, so don’t expect any such move from him, he will only give up symbols of authority like his Kabney etc and nothing else. What a pathetic specimen he has turned out to be, always playing to the gallery, but never actually sacrificing anything himself. On the other hand we have a lot of buffoons who think OL is doing a great job, just ridiculous.

      • PM will get the prize for being the biggest hypocrite, hands down!! Ol has no chance against JYT in being a hypocrite. “Equity and Justice” what a joke! “Zero tolerance to corruption”, exactly the opposite is happening. He lied to the people of this country time and time again. Even in the meeting with the press he said our economy is doing well (if so how come there is credit crunch? INR crisis? People losing their jobs in the private sector? Bans on import of hundreds of items? Now the common man cannot even import a maruti car or build a house) . JYT is undoubtedly the BIGGEST HYPOCRITE!!

  32. For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?

  33. When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice: but when the wicked beareth rule, the people mourn.

  34. now iam confused which vehicle our PM will make Private number plate, the same luxury crown car which he have been used within thimphu or the Toyota Land cruiser which he used during Dzongkhak tours bothe the vehicles belongs to Foreign Ministry, or the latest model Land cruiser, costing in the present market 8 mn which he import  last yrs April 2012 for his official duty which our hon’ble Lyonchen  keeped park all the time in garage  

  35. This ministers and PM of DPT were blood sucker of the people of Bhutan. They are so greedy and instead of setting good example, they have set very bad example. Why so much greed? Why they need to take the government Prado when they have more than enough. Even they need to take office laptop and phone, what a shame.

    We expect OL to set an example here. Is OL consulted on this? People of Bhutan, wake up and decide which party to choose wisely if we want to see a better Bhutan and free from these blood sucker ministers of DPT.

  36. if they dont return all the people tax paid money to Govt. No votesfor DPT and PDP. This is People tax paid which should not be distributed to these looters.

  37. what can we expect out of this system? god bless Bhutan.

  38. Ridiculous! A new set of ministers will come in soon. Is the government going to spend millions again to buy prados for them? Where does the money come from? Aren’t we poor – begging from here and there?

    While in this topic, I feel that our ministers should not be given such expensive vehicles. I am sure, a cheaper SUV like the Hyundai Santa Fe or Tucson would suffice for all their needs and our MPs should ride in even cheaper vehicles.

    • If the DPT returns to power, it is most probable that we will have the same set of Ministers with a few changes here and there, in such a scenario, does it mean that they get new Prados for their official duties. And, how would they go about importing these new vehicles when all imports have been banned.

    • One good example that we can look at Indian politicians is that they are obliged to use Indian made cars. So they proudly drive non SUVs ambassador cars. Though they have billions in their coffer, yet they use their small car. 
      What about us? We cannot even produce our own vegetables, let alone think of making cars? So aren’t we suppose to use the cheapest available transportation because morally we have no right to cause huge loss to government exchequer by purchasing SUV. By Indian standard, our politicians should use their own vehicle or use public transport at the most. 

  39. Hingtam chi Zhuwachen

    I think they deserve. Indeed more!

    • more for what???

      For plunging our economy into debt?
      For having grabbed all the lands in their thram?
      For robbing our national exchequer??
      For cheating innocent people???
      More for what….?????

    • Druk Highlight

      Politicians always feel they deserve more than what they have been generously given. That is the reason why the world is seeing so much disparity and unhappiness.

    • For wasting 9 million USD for unnecessary advice from McKenzie!
      For wasting 8 million loaned dollars to built IT park fortress which has no occupants even now!
      For unnecessary UNSC campaign!
      For Gyelpozhing land scam, Denchi favouritism!
      For  building unnecessary airports everywhere!
      For debating time and again MPs remuneration in the Parliament!
      For Tobacco Act  , Pedestrain Rule!
       For providing  no credible solution to the R problem!
      For blaming public for R problem because you a and I ate vegetables and eggs and meat brought from India!

  40. Thank you civil servants and the dumb village folks for giving a landslide victory to DPT, Druk Pretentious Tshogpa. Simmer down with the soothing speeches and the GNH lectures that you have taken enough to the neck while the preachers enrich themselves with state-owned properties.

  41. I was just wondering how they have forgotten to request the Mansion they have been living as soelra….

    Very disgusting….public properties like Prado and office equipment are taken by rich Ministers….People in the rural Bhutan are suffering, toiling day and night to keep their families smiling. Many rural children have to drop out of school because their parents cannot afford to send them for higher education…AND now here we have DPT Ministers stokpiling Prados and office equipment purchased through tax and donors money….
    I am pretty sure this time DNT and DCT (led by 2 ladies) have better edge to win the up coming election….

  42. Dinesh Dhungyel

    Bhutanese Authority wants to keep their top level outgoing official happy to prophese GNH around the world. What so ever is the democratic, economic, and social situation inside the country, they all, really, not matter much. However, keeping the officials happy can somehow leads to positive answers to international interrogation. good idea to fool the world. You guys(fellow citizens) gradually know what was happening, what is happening, and also see what will happen.

  43. All the posters, Please do not be so jealous of what the Ministers have got. It is a gift granted by the 5th king in appreciation of the services rendered by them in their whatever capacity. We all know that our king makes wise decisions only.

    • In kuensel’s recent interview with Ministers they were asking what you are taking with you?No one said they are taking prado, computers and printers! Hhahahaha what a good example by our so called selfless leaders?

  44. Some people say The Bhutanese has a grudge over ex PM which made them maliciously attack the previous government so many times. And the issue here is about Solera from His Majesty. In a way of seeking vengeance against previous government and PM in particular

    • Issue here is not that HM gave them the soelra. Issue here is JYT begged for it even though he knew the state of our economy and INR crunch and ban on car imports – as his government created it and is responsible for it.
      Where The Bhutanese is concerned, I applaud them and their courage. If what The Bhutanese has published was untrue or was made up by The Bhutanese the DPT Government would have taken them to court long ago. But the fact is that whatever The Bhutanese publishes is true and backed by evidence that is why the DPT government (as much as it hates The Bhutanese) cannot do anything because they cannot fight against the truth , and that is why the DPT government only whimpers about The Bhutanese and tries to harm it illegally by issuing Govt notifications to Govt ministries not to give any advertisements to The Bhutanese and then quickly retracts and lies saying there was “communication error”. DPT government would have definitely closed down The Bhutanese, but the fact that The Bhutanese can back up their stories with evidence means that as much as DPT hates The Bhutanese, they cannot even take The Bhutanese to court because everything The Bhutanese has published till date is 100 percent true.

  45. This news is really insightful and educative.I too feel it is huge cost to the country as well to the people.Whomsoever comes to the power in 2013 election should show example by not demanding prados as their duty vehicle.They can use respective Ministry’s vehicle and return back when their tenure is over.It is not really good example from GHN Practitioners.Thanks Bhutanese for  bringing  such a insightful news and we need people like you but you should bring unbiased news.Your credibility lies in bringing unbiased news.As of now, everybody feels, your news is with some some agenda behind.Please bring unbiased news and we are on your side.

  46. surprise surprise….. SOELRA ..the word is very ATTRACTIVE AND NICE to hear but only if its been received by somebody who are really in need of it…. Do every Bhutanese think and feel that this people need this? ….Appreciation !!!!!!! of course we know they have done good job ,BUT  were their job done was for free …  have they  forget the about salary every end of the month. (huge  one) they had received. They were leaders and knows about Bhutan economic crisis  and poverty level.  …is it rite time to ask for seolra or set some example ? I guess they should act like a Leader if they want to remind as  Leader and remember them as our good Leader  historically . What is happening to the  most happiest country’s leader…. i wonder what else left to see  gosh…. 

  47. I will not comment but leave to my finger tip to do it inside the voting compartment. When I hear the long beep sound, I will be a satisfied citizen coming out.

    • We talk of our country as GNH and in one way its true that those ministers were enjoying the fruit of GNH with more than 5 Prados but one saddest thing is there are many people living in the corner of country barely  able to sustain their meals…..The ruling govt (DPT) borrowed many loans from outside ….and now they are enjoying with more than 4 prados….oh…..

    • People are all hypocrite. They say one thing and do another. Even, people who slams ministers for receiving Prados would have done same thing if he/she is in their place. 

  48. It is becoming an inextricably interwoven web of metallic thread of the powerful and the rich controlling politics and business in this dreamland, my homeland. Indeed, a difficult one in times to break through. It is now or never my dear fellows to review your judgment and make your fingers work in the next 7 weeks or so. Else, our own incompetency will only allow solidifying the web that will entangle all of us permanently. By then, no amount of twitting and forumming will help us, ofcourse there will be history story line as “The good things that we had once in our country”.

  49. If this is true I am deeply shocked! These jokers were elected to serve the country NOT to rob the country. If JYT really went to HM5 to request this then this man sure is a crook. How can he after all the corruption stuffs going on with his ministers still go to Hm to beg for more. A simple math tells me that is this is going to cost the country close to Nu.100 million! God help Drukyul.

  50. Hello everyone,

    Let us not complaint while Ministers got solera from our King instead let us learn to appreciate and expect the same in future. Why not we join political parties and become misister. If we expect solera, we need to undergo very long process. Firstly we need to get party ticket, secondly we need to elect as MP from our constituencies, thirdly we need to have required quality to get ourselves elected as minister. This is a long and difficult journey one has to undergo. If you feel it is easy then think it over and try for solera otherwise let us learn together to appreciate our ministers for their achievements.

    • Darn..what you are talking? That is why they are paid salary every month like you and me. When we do our job we get paid but when we resigned we donot take anything from country. Simple…

    • Druk Highlight

      Election process requires that the political candidates come to seek out votes. The so-called ‘long process’ is required during election time, in any democracy. There is nothing extraordinary about it. Politicians shouldn’t take advantage of our benevolent King. The ministers act as though they went through wars and disasters for us. Our Kings have led us through such turmoil – each and every time. Why must the politicians always expect Soleras from the King. Instead, the people should be thinking of contributing to the King and nation. We must start by electing selfless people to the minister’s post. MPs and ministers work for us. We elect them.

  51. Whatever, the vehicle soelra made me one unhappy citizen in Bhutan!

    • It looks the ant-incumbancy factor might work strongly even in the up-coming National Assembly election. The voters are the same people and the trend has already set in as seen in NC election…Also there are strong reasons for the same….Bhutanese people have become wiser by five years….

  52. The Bhutanese did a fine job!!! Bravo!!! I am confident, none can come out to openly present the  findings to public. We are all aware, yet so coward.   
     Some of the authors have singled out OL.. why  OL?  Why not three time recipients  do away with the Soelra? I am not a fan of OL but I wish to be fair. If OL does not do his responsibilty of check and balance to the government,  imagine our state. Despite all this PM has the cheek to go nation wide, straight face,  on TV what rupee crunch? Is anyone out of job? May be he is thinking of his supporters and far relatives that he took to USA on government fund and it behind in USA. Disgusting man!!!

    • Our PM has become very arrogant. He thinks he is the only capable person and none can match him. It looks like cranes have not grounded as of yet. We need to bring them down and face the ground realities. This act of arrogance and hypocrisy must go. We need genuine leaders who does what they preach.

      • Wisdom, please don’t digress from the topic, the Prado’s being given to the Ministers etc has nothing to do with the PM. If you have issues with the PM, which you obviously seem to have, do it on another more relevant thread.

    • Bullshit, OL is being singled out because of his publicity stunt of wearing a white Kabney, if he could sacrifice his Kabney, why not his Prado. These are questions the OL needs to answer, in the end it looks as though his kabney poltics has backfired on him.

      • At least OL sacrificed his scarf and patang. Lets see what JYT (The undoubted biggest hypocrite this country has ever seen) sacrifices.

  53. i read the article twice. it no way inspired me but i am deeply disheartened. The famous word “SELFLESS” to describe our ministers is proved here. Think thousands to press EVM button.  cheers pelden drukpa!

  54. This should lead to a criminal and civil case initiated by the NGOs, ACC or need to form activists to curve corruption. If they issue circulars themselves to benefit and not much different from Gyelposhing land scandal. Why should these Ministers deserve soelra or kidu when many people in Bhutan are poor and finding difficult to meet their basic needs. How can these Ministers have the guts to ask for kidu from higher authority when they are blind to increase of the civil service salary. If they have the guts to take the Prados which belonged to the people of Bhutan, we need to take them to Court, we need to chargesheet them for embezzlement of public properties, we need to chargesheet them for conflict of interest; we need to chargesheet them robbing the nation’s asset. This is the height of it, very manipulative, cunning and very thick skin— when will they learn to stop from amassing the wealth that belonged to the people of Bhutan? when will they learn the art of accountability and senility to the public opinion?

    The OL need to keep away from these polluted design of the chunk of Cabinet members; enough is enough, we have to bring this to the court, meanwhile all these people should be barred from getting the audit clearance if they rob the Prados that belong to the people of Bhutan.

    We also need to bring these misuse of authorities by the highest ranking cabinet Ministers to international communities and regions who are our development partners. Now we can clearly see the need to have a media like BHUTANOMICS to tame the greed of some of our goons.

  55. The more we think of this corrupt design of Prados by Cabinet Ministers, the more sad we feel. These Cabinet Ministers should not beg for Prados from HM5, they should not put our beloved King in awkward situation. Whatever it may be, we will bring this issue to the Court and if our Cabinet Ministers have the guts to justify for robbing our public properties. Wrong people getting soelra, we are plunging into more problems—-social, economical, political and many more…..this is not correct way to show leadership and example by the first democratically elected government. A time may come that Ministers and higher authorities who have amassed wealth like mountain of govt land, government buildings may lead to stripping their private ownerships and become once again the government properties if they do not know how to balance themselves and limit their greed and desire for grabbing properties belonging to the government of people of Bhutan.

  56. If the Lyonpos did not deserve, His Majesty would not have granted the solra. So, there is nothing wrong in receiving solar.

  57. Parasites (DPT)  go to hell …………… first u r asking for pay increment, patang so on  moment u got elected n now u greedy craps are asking for prado……. think of people of elected u .. wat differences did u bring to common people like us…… nth……………. 
    its  sooooooooo   frustrating 

  58. people are just bringing down the name our king…if it is soelra were is the order.its gross misuse by a demoratically elected …govt who preached equity n justice…the tax payers money.sick people.i need to take few days leave and relax my self.hope the paper is not misleading us.but if it is true i volunteer to support the paper.

  59. As a citizen I am very confused. I was always of the opinion that something that is granted without asking is known as SOELRA while something that is granted after asking is called KIDU. From this article it seems our ruling government asked or kidu right? If that is true all I can say of our present elected leaders is “there don’t seem to an end to their greed” Enough is Enough – let’s use our gift given by our kings wisely and elect leaders that understand the People’s need, is aware of the actual situation of country’s economy and who honestly and truly from their heart believe in serving the country and not themselves. Looks like a bad precedence has been set by our first elected government. Our democracy really is being made unique in the world – public fund being grabbed shamelessly by the elected leaders. It’s time to make a difference now for the future of our children.

    When such leaders speak of TWS it makes me sick for instead of thinking about my King, Country and People their words remind me of Land (Gyalpoizhing), Car (Prados) and buildings ( ministers’s Enclave)

  60. I would not have complained if any of the ministers, other than PM, YZ, WN, and KW took the prados. I also would not have complained if they at least spared the office equipments.

  61. Please cool down all my friends. Do concentrate in your work and get your share when time comes. You and me can’t make any sense simply writing here. If you are concerning too much on this issues, why not you join political parties and raise your voice in National Assembly but you need to get through the election. How can you say against our ministers who all got solera from our King. KIng has granted because they deserved. There is nothing to feel bad instead you should appreciate. How come minister will not get solera while MP’s got their own share. Please be mindful and don’t criticize our beloved ministers.  

  62. Congratulation.. but do they really deserve that ??? 

    And now, good luck to the new Dashos and to be ministers.. one prado on the way .. good investment.. and good perk.. 

    I am just concern about where we are heading towards.. that’s to think my good people !!

  63. well said summon. They must be held accountable some day. Let us join politics mena guys. our complaints makes little difference. they have become very thick skin and don’t. listen.

  64. Bhutan will be poor in few years to come…it is so dis heartening to see this newsMinisters get to keep their Toyota Prados and office equipment….how about if these prados are kept as it for the upcoming new PM, Cabinet Minsters, Chairman NC and OP….what made a big reason to give away wit all those office equipment either….????

  65. In fact, you have forgotten to mention that Maruti Suzuki Wagon R was also secretly given to the Ministers of the DPT government as duty for their Aums. This purchase was made by Ministry of Finance, but it was never public knowledge.

  66. i won’t be surprised if all these negative commentators belongs to either opposition party members or people having some personal problems with ministers. And, although comments are many, it will be same  few people writing with different names. So, no credibility of these commentators!!

    • Flabbergasted

      If only you took out that head of yours from DPT’s butthole, you would think differently. You have even less credibility than the others.

  67. Its a democratic and we cannot comment anything on their perk, as the saying goes, if u take a onion u bitter ur mouth and when we see others taking ur eyes gets bitter(jealous)
    when the country is in dare need of services, these old ministers served for the people of our country for decades, we should appreciated and thanks them and not demoralize them, our children may also receive similar perk in near future if capable to join the politic or lead the country this is nothing new so do no waste our time we cannot do anything on this this.

  68. May be they deserve but for god sake leave those cars. Our country is in huge debt and they know the situation well. My support to DPT is vanishing day by day.

  69. In our system, these things are happening because something is missing structurally so that people who are manipulative and abusive in nature can misuse it thoroughly. We will have serious problems if we do not correct it with clear and good intention. One of the suggestions could be explore how to establish “check and balance system” anyone is liable to such kind of trap and temptation if there is no proper check and balance system, this what has been happening in our country for so long, do we want to continue and ruin our nation? Do we really want to create a big gap between the poor and the rich? The Cabinet Ministers who are suppose to develop their respective constituencies are busy in developing themselves; during their campaign they have not asked the public for Prados to be taken at the end of their term, instead they promised to help their people. Is this the help they are doing by grabbing the Prados and other public properties? This could be an indication of the fact that structurally there is something wrong in our system which is big concern. With this kind of system, there will always be more temptation to profit themselves, they will issue circular themselves to benefit themselves. They should not even ask the HM for this kind of vest interest game, they represent for people and not for themselves. This is criminal and gross misuse of power, misuse official position. It is shame for these people to even think of asking this kind of material gain from the King. This is not right to lead us, our fair share of tax are included in the cost of Prados, we are going to object for this strongly. Henceforth if anyone is abusing authorities and misusing the assets of the people of Bhutan, we will not think twice to go against it and may even demand them to surrender properties including those properties owned by them manipulatively. How these Ministers are already discussing to give back the Prados as they are the public properties and also we are undergoing serious rupee crisis. It will be a big shame on them during this campaign when they go for begging the votes in the villages, very shame on them!!! There should be legal case initiated against them if they take the Prados.

  70. They know 2013 is not going to be like 2008 victory. They are going home, grab whatever they can.

  71. There is although one good thing this will probably give rise to. More people will have a reason or two to come to polling station to vote for. I have decided to whom my vote will go to. 

  72. True Bhutanese

    In 2008, the sacred gift from The Royal Throne was ushered to the people of Bhutan and People had morally failed to chose a right party although we had only two parties. Fact is……” In DPT people had trust…but DPT robed the people”…..Why can’t they surrender the prodos including OL on moral ground….

    If they take all the enlisted government properties…then it would indicate that their tenure in politics over….

  73. Is this a SCAM. Why all this hue and cry?

  74. This DPT sold Bhutan…..I am worried what will happen to our country after 10 years…..
    Dear Readers, This PM will take even stool if you wrap in a paper n give him saying this is gold…..he is the worst leader i could ever imagine…….

  75. The prados are also gifted by the Throne Mr. True Bhutanese and who are fake and false Bhutanese.

  76. nothing else matters…it ‘ll remain as itself,

  77. It appears that the circular is already out which means that HM has already granted the soelra to these low life creatures. It is clear now that these bunch of DPT ministers are no more than corrupt criminals with vested. They did not usher Bhutan into democracy but a country of corruption. The international agencies are laughing at us & every expats i meet in town have such a low opinion of our country.
    Your majesty please punish these ministers rather than give them soelra. We the common people is sick of hearing corruption by the mighty & powerful & rich.

  78. it is fair enough…
    the ministers deserve it.
    numerically speaking, 10 pardos in five years is not a great issue…

  79. Wah! this paper is doing great job! Wish someone confers the proprietor with BLACK KABNEY and MS ROD PATANG immediately. BLACK KABNEY because he is black inside and revengeful. ROD PATANG because he seems to be bold,

  80. I join to condemn the Soelra that was requested to the King. No DPT anymore. I will not vote for it by all means. Bureaucrats are capable in Bhutan. Any party coming on board can easily run the country. Nepal has no party in power for almost a year and are doing fine. Bangladesh is heading soon to have something like Nepal.

    So we will choose a party that will lead by example. We have to convince our village folks to come our way.

  81. its really depressing and unexpected soelra awarded on request by prime minister.the country its on its way to development economically and its not yet developed.upto now,it is considered as least developed country and ll remain same if such kind of thing happens continously..

  82. Ngawang Jordan

    It seems like our leaders are having tough time deciding what to snatch form the home that have given birth to their power…………… i had strong trust that politician of Bhutanese were different from other countries… now i come to know.. how true the phrase ” power always corrupts”….. politician is politician after all where ever it might be Bhutan, is not an exception…wooah…. BRAVO!!…. nice move in the world of real politician……. 

  83. as  being prime minster of this small nation of Drukyuel and an exemplary leader for young democratic country, we regret of wrongly exercising our fundamental right of voting and hope all my friend will now come together to create awareness on such issue to the people  of Bhutan and make a good choice of government  not like the present ruling party…………

  84. Don’t just bark at others, if u ve gut and confidence come forward and contest the election. I f u win, please be minister and take cars like them. Nobody will question u. 

  85. OPPOSITION LEADER, the national council’s chairman and the cabinet ministers are allowed to keep prado. So, its not only DPT or anyone, its all..the opposition leader, the PM, the NC chairman, the ministers and even all the MPs because if anyone of them had kept their greed back, thought of the situation Bhutan is standing right now and if they had slightest love and care for Bhutan, this should not have happened at all.
    I DON’T KNOW WHO TO VOTE FOR, BUT I SURE KNOW WHOM NOT TO VOTE FOR.
    Corncerned Youths of Bhutan

  86. they deserve it for their toils and contribution. But i wouldn’t want another prado if i were one of the ministers.  

    • Flabbergasted

      What contribution? Bhutan has not become any better than it was 5 years ago. In fact its the contrary. The country has become poorer, the morale of the people are low, its hard to do business, numerous bans have been imposed most of which restricts our fundamental rights (smoking ban, car ban, movement ban), corruption is at an all time high, corrupt people embezzling government land and money go scot free while other people have been imprisoned for carrying few amounts of tobacco, unemployment rate is still the same or even worsened, the government tried to ignore and ridicule the judiciary and the ACC, its found out that several serving ministers are corrupt, including their party vice president and speaker. The economy is in the gutter, ruppee crunch, dollar crunch, while they at the same time go about grabbing everything they can lay their eyes and hands on.

      The only contribution JYT and his gang has made is make noise of “GNH”, one that only applies to themselves. GNH, the scared philosophy of our king has been reduced to some shallow meaningless word with JYT selling it like a doma to everyone home and abroad.

      So, do they still deserve their soelras?

  87. To our Ministers, revoke the circulars before the donor countries make fun of you; before the people of Bhutan take you to court for criminal act and misuse of authority.
    This is certainly not the way to show leadership examples- you are teaching us to be more corrupt. You are teaching us to rob the nation’s wealth either through circular if in power or forgery and deception if not in power to issue circular.
    We are losing our patience, or else we will ask you to return all the properties including mountain of land, government building now owned by many crooked people in the top position. Tell us how much did you pay to get that land, tell us how much did you pay to get that building? tell us how much did you pay for the land cruiser and Prado?
    For common people, it is hard to survive. Through your act, you are making us bold to reveal so many of your undesirable past acts. We thought our system is improving, but you guys continue to cheat and rob our common properties. You think you can gang up and rob us , for how long??? When people from west, east, central and south get frustrated…you know the consequences, so far people have exercise their rights passively through votes, now if our Ministers and higher up cross the limit they may exercise their rights spontaneously and upfront.
    Be aware of the collective strength of the people, it will be wrong to underestimate the opinion of the public. Do please learn to respect the sentiment of the general public and try to listen to their views and opinion.

  88. Yea what a good logic. I have my support for you. Seems the owner of this paper is going to set a record by having black kabney confer by black hearted bunch of people. I am afraid one day this paper will write against our country and create disharmony among the people of Bhutan. I think there will be few innocent supporters who will provide backup service to this paper to showcase our country’s bad image in the eyes of people in the world. I think it is time for all bhutanese citizens to work together to protect our country’s image from trying to exploit by this paper. Comeon all my friends here, let us think and why not we protect our nation. 

    • Flabbergasted

      This paper can only be reporting the facts. If these are not facts, they will be sued, the DPT government has been waiting for that chance for a long time. The fact that they still have not sued this paper for defamation/libel means that whatever this paper reported is true!

      And this paper is merely reporting the facts. They cant be blamed for creating disharmony. The actions of our shameless ministers are and will be the reason if there’s any disharmony among the people. To hell with the country’s image. I want a country with good selfless leaders, not a country with a false image.

      And samten idiot, do you plan on protecting our nation by keeping our mouth and eyes closed, turning a blind eye to corruption and robbery?? Its because of people like you that these greedy pigs are taking advantage of us.

      I don’t fu#### work 6 days a week, pay taxes only to watch it robbed by these goons.

      • Is this the right place for you to open your mouth and eyes. People like you were born with full of greedy mind and your precious life in this generation will be simply wasted for doing nothing. Your are more than foolish and idiot for being a loyal follower of this paper. Imagine, how come this paper always find loop holes of DPT. Could you suggest some other people who have accumulated wealth during their time as Ministers and Dashos if you are a loyal citizen of this country. DPT being a responsible government and it is their top priority for letting the media to grow. This is one of the reasons why DPT is not sueing this paper. You just wait and see, this paper is almost crossing the limit now.

        • Flabbergasted

          Will the information minister send out a circular telling government offices to stop giving advertisement to this paper if the government really wants the media to grow? Do ask around how the private media houses are doing, and how the govt is helping them out.

          Will a responsible government have the face to beg and receive 13 prados from the national coffers, when the country is going through an economic slowdown/crisis?

          Doesnt really sound like a responsible government to me!

          DPT was the ruling party. Important focus should be given to it, so that they function properly, and that is exactly what this paper is doing.

  89. It is good that public are expressing their views and opinion on the PRADO issue. As far as we remember, all the MPs were granted Nu. 700,000/= each to procure their duty vehicle upon election and Ministers were provided prado each. As this paper states, cost of a prado in 2008 was around Nu.1.4 million. Granting a prado each to to minister is very genuine, because they have performed extra tasks than the MPs. If Minisrers are to return the prados to govt. all the MPs will have refund Nu. 700,000/- each to the Govt. The paper talks of Green Taxes on the Prados, it was not applicable in 2008. The posters are unnecessarily jumping the GUN. Please analyse yourself before you write anything. Tenzing Lamsang is making you all dance in his MUSIC TUNE.

  90. All the above comments were written by a handful of non-DPT supporters. how can we be certain that other party’as leaders will be less corrupt and more greedy than the present ones? In trying to elect another party, we may land up having even worse leaders. Old demon is better than new god.

    • we the Bhutanese enjoy peace & happiness because of our good leaders (our beloved kings) i too is the supporter of DPT, till now what i thought was our DPT leaders they follows the  footsteps of our kings, coz they really work hard for the 5yrs.I thought they would continue with the same thing but at the last the all works they had done, the morality they had shown were for their own benefit. At the end they were not GNH follower, danyam and drangden was not fulfilled richer became riches and poorer became poorest  coz the Dpt leaders can have 2-3 Prados whereas some Bhutanese dont even have cycle to rid on. i feel so sad to hear this news.After NA election again 1 PM & 11  ministers will be there, so from were  will buy Prados  country dont even have enough rupee for our needs??? so  sad ………

  91. Our friend “fact” in this forum is quite interesting, looks like he is also learning from the DPT to amass the wealth of the public properties, oh this young candidate could have already promised of the party ticket or something else. At least we do not know Tenzin Lamsang, nor are we the supporter of DPT or PDP. Whether it is TL, DPT, PDP; anyone who try to manipulate and abuse the system, we are not going to remain silent.
    The educated Bhutanese can make sound judgment, but at least TL is informing the public of the abuse of the system by our corrupted leaders. In the beginning, I also had some apprehension of this paper, but it is becoming much better than Kuensel and BBSC. After Dasho Kinley D has left Kuensel, Kuensel has become the real mouth piece of DPT and BBSC not better either.
    Thumps up to TL and ‘TheBhutanese’. We appreciate your paper and we will appreciate as long as your paper continue to remain focused and objective, factually correct and unbiased.

  92. I for one totally disagree with Samten because we are against those corrupted leaders

  93. shiuli-kam-tang

    Just when we thought Bhutan was about to leave the LDC and get into the middle income group, this last ride on the gravy train fueled by the insatiable greed of JYT and group has taken the country backwards by a few notches, and made the people unhappier by many notches, and me angry manifold.
    Some might remember that song by the late Freddie Mercury, ‘i want it all, i want it all, I want it all, and I want it now”! And that soft drink ad from India, “Ye dil maange more”. It kind of reflects the greed and never ending wants. Our shameless elected leaders are human after all.
    Perhaps that guy? who broke all the windshields of Prados and Landcruisers over at Olakha and Changjiji some months back will now get busy again. Just a food for thought.

  94. I want to go to sleep but I cant. I keep on thinking about this horrible issue. I am angry & I am confused. Like me my frens are angry & confused too.

    • Just take some sleeping pills to help you sleep well. If it doesn’t work take some more to sleep well forever. So that other Bhutanese are in peace.

  95. Changeforgood

    The process undertaken by PM to obtain Prados in the name of soelra is disturbing, and more so disturbing is on retaining laptops, ipad & phones. Those equipments are worth nothing compared to Prados but still wanting to retain such little things clearly depicts GREED beyond LIMIT.

  96. GIVE NO HAPINESS GET NO HAPPINESS

    When the country has no money, borrowing from india, i think it makes no sense for orange people to keep things. I dont know what makes the, think they deserve. I think this kind of system of providing politicians with prado, quota n vehicle money should be terminated, instead the natioanl assembly sercretariat should keep all this vehicles as pool vehilce n new orange elected people should use it. Right now we r donor recepient country, this kind of expenditure is worse n more than other atleast neighbouring countries like india, thailand, etc. 

    This orange people r shamelss bastards, disgusting pigs, only think of squeezing as much as they could from public money, they should be hanged.

  97. GIVE NO HAPINESS GET NO HAPPINESS

    I think OL minister n damchoe should return their prado as rhey did with their kabney n patang otherwise the whole noble cause of returning kabney n patang is useless. 

    So, pls return n time to teach this dpt goons a lesson.

  98. Pema Tshering

    if the above is true…………., Are they really serving the nation or they want nation to serve them??? they are taking that many properties besides earning sagful of money from the nation. think…are they doing good service to the nation? if that many properties is left to the government, how much it is going to save the countrys economy. lynchoen many a times talk about the countrys economy crises but when such things are happening, i felt that they are the real cause of economic crises in the country. why they want to have rain when there is available of water…..they are doing that for their grand-grand son? they are not satisfied with what they have been already provided by the government…….if they are realy serving the nation, then, they should not be doing this. are they working for profit? are they leting people to pay them because they impose lot of tax to the people and atlast, they are doing such unethical task…….ama, we dont aspect such thing and we have selected them……is this how they are crediting their voters????? we regreted for this n sure i wil not make such choice in the future…………………………….

  99. OL N MP plz return yours PRADO to govt, after 3 months you will get NEW MODEL PRADO 
    we are here to help you all.

  100. Shame for all those involved in this shocking Prado story!  Egalitarian society dream will never be realized!  

    Cannot imagine the number of public property (Prados ) to be given as to future ministers, speakers and chairpersons. 

    A simple mathematical calculations is enough to derive the loss of public resources.

  101. The soelra should be subsequently followed with whipping of ministers who have failed in their term and who have lost their credibility.

  102. Miss. SUNMOOM
    A head with lump of shit will always think that others will also think like him.. The Prado which was purchased at Nu.1,400,000/= in 2008 is now worth Nu.350,000/= with 15% depreciation on straight line method which is followed by Govt. Please use your under utilized brain judiciously!

    • use your simple maths, 15% of 1,400,000 is 210,000 only and still 1,190,000 it cost as per the 15% depreciation applied, who was your maths teacher, it is not your fault, was fault of the teacher teaching poor student like you….

  103. Our 4th Druk Gyalpo always led by example but our ministers never followed him or got the message (because of their greed). When His Majesty the Fourth Druk Gyalpo is happy with his old Toyota Land Cruiser, why is our ministers driving home 2-3 Prados? Bhutanese people must not forget that Our Kings are indispensable but NOT our ministers! So, we must look for change and together we can CHANGE!!!

  104. In 2008 elections JYT and DPT used fear tactics telling us the people that if PDP comes to power Yab Ugyen Dorji will take all their land and the people will have to live in trees etc. After 5 years in power JYt has now become the very tyrant he warned us about.

  105. Things will remain the same, until we the people of Bhutan decide to make the changes in 2013 election. Let deserving party, who has strength and wisdom to empower powerless and enrich poor win. I will make no mistake this time. Some people rightly said, DPT has wisdom, experiences, and all they need to take our country to higher level or make it real GNH country, but they are not putting in their efforts because they have everything possible, and they don’t care whether they win or loss in the coming election. 

  106. the only person who deserves everything is lyonpo Ugyen Tshering. he is a gentleman & a diplomat who genuinely served the country. the rest of the DPT ministers they r nothing but a bunch of crooks. i had great respect for JYT but now when i hear that he went to HM to beg for prados & that he preached bullshit (GNH & gyelposing land grab & the mining) i have now zero respect for him.

  107. The Saint sacrificed everything to make his followers happy. But when the rich followers knew no limits, the Saint only regretted because he has finally left nothing for the poorer ones of his followers.  

  108. One para extract from Our PM’s speech in the Second International Conference on Gross National Happiness titled “RETHINKING DEVELOPMENT,  Local Pathways to Global Well-being”

    “The world needs to desperately recognize earth as a mortal organism that must be nourished and protected. It desperately needs to accept the mountains of evidence which prove that our finite natural resources are running out while nature’s magic of regenerating and replenishing are fading away. Someone called Bhutan an acupuncture point in the leviathan body of our ailing planet!” 

    Not sure, how much  Local Pathways to Global Well-being”. What is sure though is that four Prados is quite a contribution to our finite resources, the environment and our ailing planet.

  109. Mr.WTF is fact!
    Nu.210,000/- is for one year and Nu.1,050,000/- is for five years, You want to teach maths to me. If you coach your child like this no wonder, we have so many failures in Maths. What a brain you posses?

  110. I wonder what our neighbours, the region and the rest of the world think of us now. They must be having a good laugh at our expense.
    I guess everything and everyone can be bought for a price. One’s principles and philosophies, of service to the tsa-wa-suum, the country before self, are all forgotten, steamrolled and set aside when opportunity to satiate one’s greed come by. If our elected leaders feel they should be given the state-issued cars and landcruisers and office equipment like computers, ipads and iphones and don’t know what else, I give up!I don’t know what to say.

  111. As per Laksam’s rate of calculation of depreciation anything like building, vehicle etc will become worthless in 6.5 years. In that casr Laksam should give up all his property older than 6 years as they become worthless. 

  112. It’s just the color that makes difference for OL with kabney, but when he thought about Prado, OH! that is something he long to keep for himself than to sacrifice just for short period of time. He should have handover Prado too and had taken taxi to ride himself back home which would have been perfect example. I am beginning to loose confidence at the last moment. Now the last alternative question remains, will they ever think to take a new sets of Prado when they are elected or promise to hang on the same old? Do it soon so that we can think twice.

  113. fact
    Posted on April 29, 2013 at 5:07 am
    The prados are worth Nu.350,000/-only now with 15% depreciation for five years. So let the Ministers take them as kidu from the 5th King. That way the Ministers of next govt. will also work hard to get Prado Kidu at the end of their term. This should also serve as TALENT HUNTING FACTOR to encourage young and dynamic people to join POLITICS.

  114. Mr. Yonten,
    The lifespan of structural building is 70 years and its depreciation is 3%. The percentages are different based on nature of property. The vehicle has 15% as it is movable properties vulnerable to easy destruction. As such we have to keep provision in the form of depreciation to buy another new vehicle/replacement by next 5-6 years. This is how it is treated in the books of account. Accordingly, we are suppose to construct new building once in 70 years. Did you get it?

  115. PDP SUPPORTER is telling lie. OL please do not surrender the PRADO. A BIRD IN HAND IS BETTER THAN TWO IN THE BUSH. PDP SUPPORTER is jealous of you and he wishes you do not get anything. Please check out he could be your enemy or contestant from the same constituency.

    • Flabbergasted

      fact, you would do better to focus on the party with the bird on their logo. That bird is soaring higher and higher, leaving us all down below in their mess.

      We gave them a chance and opportunity, especially their leader, JYT and he turned out to be a uncompassionate, selfish arrogant man, whose greed for power and money looks like a bottomless pit. 

  116. Kudos to you OL for taking a bold and selfless stand. The easiest thing was to take the Prado, especially at a time when it has become precious. You show leadership and do things differently in the best interest of what is right and proper. 
    The PM should never have put our King in an awkward situation of having to concede to the unreasonable requests. Soelra is what His Majesty is pleased to graciously grants and not how it was taken.

  117. Before, I was on the side of DPT. Now, i will have to think again. They should understand that “Human desires are unlimited” and they should be content with what they are.

  118. Even though a bit late, I welcome the news that the OL has surrendered his Prado which was given to him as soelra. I apologize profusely to the OL for all the negative comments I made on this subject. My respect for OL has gone up a notch after this move by him. I hope the other Ministers will now follow OLs example. If they do so, there would be no losers, all Bhutanese would be winners.

  119. Now, I hope the corrupt Ex Secretary of the MOH, Dr. Gadho returns his Prado too, that’s if he got one as soelra.

    • finally we are converging Good! I am with you on this. we love our country, our simple people. Let us keep talking and fight for the right and good of this Great Nation – Bhutan.
      Only few days back, I heard that JDWNRH has ran out money for referring patients. So what an irony our leaders are least bothered!

      • Wisdom, I have absolutely no problem with this paper reporting the truth, however, the thing I can’t stand is this selective reporting on the part of Tenzing Lamsang. Anyone with even a little bit of common sense would see that TL really does not have any journalistic ethics because he is only targeting the PM and anyone connected to the DPT. The trend he is setting is dangerous and it is leading to hate politics which is already very visible by the comments on this very thread etc. 

  120. Heart core DPT

    LOL

  121. Dear Readers…

    I too think it would worsen the country, if it is to follow this trend and if the public properties like BG Prados are taken by every new member of the ruling party, opposition party and National Council in every after their 5 year tenure as Soelra then we need to question ourselves: 

    How we can curve the present Rupee crunch?
    How we can fulfill the GNH?
    And how we can fulfill the Millennium Development Goals?

    It would be wastage of government budgets and would widen the gap between the poor and rich.  
    The budget for buying the New Prados for new elected members could be used for the developmental activities in the poor section of remote areas. 

  122. Media curves the democracy..

  123. While other soelra receivers greedly clings on to their number 4 or 5 Toyota Landcruisers/Pardos and expectantly eying to add another one in the next term, OL for the benefit of our country’s long term interest had surrendered his 1st gotten Pardos. He is in a league of his own. He has set an exemplary precedence. The concerned now is that the sly foxes of DPT will cook 1000 reasons designed to twist and confuse both the oridinary and not oridinary Bhutanese people and try to malign the OL’s courageous move. May good triumps over evil!

  124. Going to HM to request for Prado Solra
    1. Is to act like HM appreciated them for their work.
    2. Is to fulfill their greed.
    So it is both greed and scheming.
    But now all is out, and I feel ashamed to show my face as I voted for them.

  125. The Bhutanese must refrain from displaying all comments without scrutinizing the content. It is time for votting. All citizens must have clean mind to vote for their own choice. These handful of writer are poisoning hundreds of yound minds. Please stop publishing such news and comments. One day the citizens will raise our voice to close down your office. You are endangering the the minds of young voters through this forum. Please check the contents and refrain from publishing all the articles being submitted to your desk.

    • Flabbergasted

      Choden, why don’t you blindfold yourself and press the EVM button. Lets not have elections at all if we are not to know what our candidates are.

      What do you suggest? Do you suggest that our youth listen to false flowery words from mouths like JYT’s and vote for people like that?

      Its for a reason that you are allowed to vote if you are 18 and above. A person of 18 years should be able to analyse and make his own decision. Maybe it looks like you are above 18 with a mind of a child.

  126. i only pray that my country is not robbed of its already dwindling image and economy. I wish I could do something to rescue my country from being bled to hell. I wish I could change everything. I only wish…

  127. Our complaints will fall on deaf ears so instead let us educate the people to use their Kings gifted Soelra – the THUMB – wisely in the coming months

  128. OL has set a good precedent by returning the duty vehicle back in the Bhutanese History.Now I have a high regard on him.All other DPT Ministers should follow the suits as a first democratically elected leader and it will go long way in saving  our fragile economy.otherwise many Ministers will come and go every 5 years and beg soelra from HM which will have  huge implication on our fragile economy.If it is true,  It is morally and ethically wrong to beg soelra,when our citizens in the remote are still struggling to survive to get even a meal in a day.Our PM whom we have high expectation and regards should not set such a bad precedent.Please return prados back.Your paid for what you have done, don’t expect more.

    • Flabbergasted

      PM is taking not a Prado. He is taking a Land cruiser, that costs twice/thrice that of a Prado, which if reports are true, has been kept in a garage and been used very sparingly.

      He has not use his landcruiser all that much, not because of his care for national property, but because he predicted that the car will be his own private property after his term.

      Now, if only they used their prediction powers to avert situations like the ruppee crisis and all, they would have done this country a good favour.

  129. The DPT government started with fightiing for their salary hike, patang, Yaris quota and many others when in power “chance may dance” to fill their insatiable desire. They totally forgot the GNH philosophy of being “non materialistic” and the middle path strategy. I thought that would be the end. But I was very shocked to learn that they have targeted the Duty vehicle Prados. The insatiable desire of DPT government made me to give a second thought in the upcoming election. I regret to have voted DPT in 2008.

  130. By doing away with the orange kapney and patang and surrendering the prado, OL has shown a concern for the nation. be it to gain political mileage or whatsoever, he had done a good deed that everyone should live by his example.
    Having already received 3, 4, or 5 vehicles, PM should not have begged for a soelra from the king in the first instance. The king was left with no choice but to grant the soelra. When the tattered kids beg in jaigon, I am left with no option but to give Nu. 5 or 10. Our king was put into such situation by our ministers. How many vehicles do they want to take home? People are suffering. I am DPT supporter, but now I lost hope. This time, I would vote for the party who pledges less for themselves and more for the people.

  131. Choden, no minds are being poisoned. All of us can observe, think and also see and judge for ourselves. We know what is what and time has come for CHANGE and we must exercise that right. Our people in the rural areas are also not blind and they have many of us to explain to them the reality. We will not be blinded by sweet words” nowang sangma”

  132. Our PM has entered the rank of being the most cynical person in Bhutan, saying one thing in public (both inside and outside the country) and doing one thing on the other. The International community watching this episode would laugh when he preaches next time. 

    I agree with many that OL, surrendering his Kabney, Patang, and Prado, is a noble act irrespective of what died-hard DPT supporters would call it a political move. At any rate, politics done for the benefit of the country should be much appreciated than politicking for self gratification. 

    We all know that it is hard to give up an expensive car that has served a person for 5 years, and thus it takes immeasurable degree of courage and conscience to part with such an asset. Only with immense concern for the general welfare of the society will motivate such an act, and I salute OL for showing that historic precedence. 

    I also concur with many that DPT should not have asked for soelra after realizing that the country’s economy is in deep trouble, a mess which is their own creation to be blunt. 

    To be fair, all prados should have been auctioned and the money deposited into the national exchequer for common good. 

  133. If OL did it for country and people he will definitely win this election, but it seems like he is doing for his political milage, if so, he will be looser to kabney, Prado and even election .

  134. wow! Bhutan is so rich! ..just the Prados cost (- tax 1400000 *11=15400000)with tax 3000000*11=33000000) …hhhmmm… let us not be petty and calculate the electronic gadgets & other things….so happy to read about Bhutan’s progress and  prosperity…God Bless Bhutan!  Pray that the next 5 years spell more riches for Bhutan!  

  135. I see that similar things are happening all over the world (the whole world is rich – obviously from the point of view of the rulers)

  136. Why did the Prime Minister of Bhutan approach His Majesty the King to request soelra for government duty vehicles for himself and the ministers?

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