The Bhutanese Leading the way.
Chukha Tshechu was held this week from 20th till 22nd October witnessed by thousands of people including good number of tourists. The first day of the tshechu saw an auspicious audience granted by His Majesty the King, and the next two days saw visit mainly from the local people.
There were about 125 stalls this year which is a comparatively higher compared to last year out of which 19 were food stalls and rest were cloth and games stall. Most number of stalls was dominated by games stall. For each stall, the shopkeepers were charged one thousand per day for restaurants and five hundred per day for the games and clothing stall.
Higher interest was shown towards food stalls where a total of 112 registered for it out of which 19 were selected on a lucky dip basis.
However, shopkeepers are not happy with the higher number of stalls, which according to them left them with a comparatively less profit.
Ugyen Dema, who had a cloth stall during Chhukha tshechu said, “I would say the number of stalls was more for the number of people witnessing Tshechu and that’s why we nearly had a loss so I had to negotiate the rent and paid only seven hundred for two days”.
Another shopkeeper, Damboe Drukpa said, “Since my stall is for food items, I did expect more profit but since the number of stall was more in number, I guess most of the shopkeeper didn’t earn much”.
However, Pem Zam, who had a cloth stall, said, “Since I’m doing this business for the first time, I didn’t expect much profit but I’m happy that I got to witness the tshechu and got a chance, along with my husband to see His Majesty”.
According to the dzongkhag official, the money collected from the rent of stalls will be used for donation in Moenlam Chenmo and it will also be used for a mass cleaning campaign which will be conducted by the dzongkhag in coordination with various departments of Chukha Dzongkhag.
