The Bhutanese Leading the way.
As decided by the Parliament in the 4th session, 16 dzongkhag thromdes and 20 yenlag thromdes will be established on time for the local government elections which is planned in 2016. Minister for Ministry of Work and Human Settlement (MoWHS), Dorji Choden, confirmed this on Thursday.
The minister said, “Regarding the latest development of the thromde establishment in each dzongkhag MoWHS had a long consultation with National Land Commission (NLC), each dzongkhags, Gewogs and other stake holders.” There are 20 dzongkhag thromde identified, which includes four ‘A’ class thromde and 16 dzongkhag thromdes.
The minister pointed out that the presentation had been going on for almost a year with amendment of LG Act. “Previously in LG Act thromde was classified into thromde A and B,” she added. “We have identified all dzongkhag thromde, and the constitution says that each dzongkhag should have at least one yenlag thromde, which means there can be more than one Yenlag thromde. But since the establishment of Dzongkhag thromde is a big step the government reckons that building many yenlag thromde is too much for the first phase of development.”
She explained that in every dzongkhag the next biggest town should be considered as yenlag thromde, pointing out that the boundaries between the Yenlag thromde were not clarified.
“In fact MoWHS could not summit in the last session of the Parliament. During this period, the entire exercise was really formalizing the boundaries because it was a contentious issue and some communities do not want to be identified as thromde”.
She assured that now boundaries are almost set and the government was preparing to create maps and documentation. Those will be submitted in this session of the Parliament. In 2016, the county will elect 20 thrompons including the existing four, 140 thromde thuemis and 20 yenlag thuemis as required by the Act.
