The Bhutanese Leading the way.
Development programs at Mendrelgang gewog
As a follow-up to an initiative taken by Mendrelgang gewog to acquire fund, for a Thangka (religious scroll), a total amount of Nu. 0.8 mn was handed over to Mendrelgang gewog from the . From the grant amount, Nu. 0.4 mn and Nu. 85,000 were spent on the Thangka for Mendrelgang’s lhakhang at the gewog. The gewog will receive the thangka next month. “The drive for fund was initiated by the gewog for the thangka and we also discussed with the Lam Neten who was very supportive,” said the Mendrelgang Gup, Yeshey. Out of the total amount, Nu. 75,000 will be used for the construction of a public toilet for the lhakhang. The Gup also said that the construction works will begin as soon as the Dzongkhag engineers ready the map. The remaining balance will be used for the side developments for the lhakhang. (Sonam Choden)
Development activities: some yet to be completed and some to be shelved
The Gewog has almost completed the developmental activities like RWSS, irrigation channels and farm roads for the term of 2011-2012. Works on farm roads, gewog buildings and Lhakhangs are yet to be completed. Some works in the gewog will however remain incomplete due to budget constraints. “We have to depend on the budget,” said the Gup. Also, constructions of about three to four cow sheds for seven to eight people in a group are underway. “We are also distributing vegetable seeds to the people,” the Gup said. (Tashi Deki)
Dzongkha Unicode training to enable English skills
An extensive training program was conducted at the Shari high school in Paro on Dzongkha Unicode for the Gewog Administration Officers (GAO) around the 10 Gewogs in Paro. This training would enable the GAOs from the various gewogs to communicate both in English and Dzongkha. The training was part of the Dzongkha development program by the government. It was financed and initiated jointly by the Finance ministry and the Paro Dzongkhag. (Yeshey Tshewang)
Road to-perdition no more
Come June and the farm road from Sombaykha to Haa will be completed. This means people of Sombaykha will no longer have to make the four-day journey from the road head to Haa or vice versa. The farm road construction which is part of Tenth Five year Plan started last year with a budget of approximately Nu. 300,000. The tough journey up to the village, abounds with many incidences of death, and tales of ailing folks or women on the brink of delivery. “Sometimes the patients die on the way before reaching the hospital” said Sombaykha Mangi Ap Samdrup. Talking to The Bhutanese the Mangi Ap said that with completion of the farm road the overall lives of people will benefit as there are a lot of scope for the farmers to sell their products including potato, cheese and butter. As of now villagers pay huge amount in transportation costs. Sombaykha village has five chiwogs with 333 households and the gewog has a community school. The extended class room at the chiwog level was discontinued since there weren’t enough students. (Dawa Zangmo)
Butter lamps to show the way to the Chorten of well-being
The Jangteykha Lhakhang has built an enclosure which will be specifically used for butter lamps while the Nakha Lhakhang which fell victim to the earth quake last year is being renovated. The construction project on these Lhakhangs is being financed through the Constituency Development Grant (CDG) from Lyonpo Khandu Wangchuk’s constituency. The total budget is approximately Nu. 0.8 mn . Lest it should cost more than the budget allocated, the villagers in the gewog have decided to contribute toward it. Meanwhile a Chorten has been constructed in Wangchang geog through the CDG costing around Nu. 0.2 mn. The reason for the chorten’s construction is to bring peace and co-operation amongst the people within the gewog. (Yeshey Tshewang)
