The Bhutanese Leading the way.
New bridge to inaugurate this October
After a long wait the gewog will finally get the concrete bridge which will be operational this October
Without the bridge the villagers on the other side of the river had to endure serious inconveniences during summer when the river got swollen. Many development works also had to be stalled in absence of a bridge.
“It is in summer that many farmers have surplus agricultural products for sale,” said Gup Nar Bahadur Rai. The swollen river cuts off the opportunity to generate income, so those surplus agriculture products, the gup said went to waste. “At the most, we feed cattle with the surplus with no market,” he said.
Although there is a by-pass, it takes them longer time to reach the destination. Therefore, the gewog put up requests for the urgent need of a bridge.
(Tanden Zangmo)
Gewog Completes Development Works
After a rush, Jigmecholing community is about to complete all the development activities before the financial year ends.
According to Gup Sherab Jamtsho over Nu 7mn was allocated for the activities they had planned for a period.
“We were quite skeptical to complete the work as it should be started from September 2011,” said Gup. They started the work from the beginning of the year.
Lhakhangs in Samkhar and Reti chiwog are still under construction as Ministry of Home and Cultural Affairs (MoHCA) delayed to give permission to construct the Lhakhangs, said the Gup.
On top of that they could not procure the construction materials on time and tendering process further delayed the work.
However renovation of Lhakhang in Chungshing and four water sources for more than 100 households and construction of three bridges are complete.
(Thinley Wangmo)
Vishwakarma Puja in Thimphu
On 17 September vehicles designed and decorated much akin to that of carriages for newly-weds thronged the streets and corners of the city.
More people got busy to decorate their cars, bikes, performing the ritualistic tika decorations at various places like workshops and construction sites to celebrate Vishwakarma puja.
Vishwakarma puja is the festival dedicated to Lord Vishwakarma, the divine architect as well as the divine carpenter as in Hindu Mythology.
On the day artisans, craftsmen, mechanics, smiths, welders, industrial workers and workers of all kind worship the Lord Vishwakarma and pray for their better future and success in their works and also for the smooth functioning of various machines.
This is the festival observed with fully tuned volume of music at various places and people flock from one place to other at different stations with their friends, families and so on to witness the cultural programs.
It is said the statue of Vishwakarma is aptly transformed to match the working place; a factory will depict Vishwakarma like a worker there.
The festival is mainly celebrated in Bengal, Orissa and Tripura.
Generally it is said Vishwakarma appears in this mythical image with an elephant, which is his vehicle, and fresh fruits are offered to him.
The idol of Vishwakarma at the end of the festival is immersed in water.
(Tashi Deki)
