The Bhutanese Leading the way.
I am writing about every corner of Bajothang because I love this place and I am living the best part of my life here. The loop hole I am going to write about is not that of 3G network which is not working yet- I know it just a rough sail in new place.
It’s with heavy heart I am breaking the news that was not covered in any news media yet: On 26th February morning a man fell from the third floor of the building he was living in Bajothang town, and was declared dead upon reaching hospital.
Let me present to you a brief background of how buildings are in Bajothang: All structures have an attic on the third floor, which has a controversial background of its own. Attics are restricted to certain height and are not allowed to have verandas. Now, you may wonder how the man fell at all. The restriction on veranda was well imposed but the house owners have created a platform across the third floor which can be accessed through either a door or a big window. All commercial apartments have similar features and I am sure authorities have seen it but since it didn’t look like veranda no action was taken against it. Therefore you could see people drying clothes outside the windows of third floor without any safety railings.
The accidents such as this were easily predictable; it was only by the grace of god that we saw only one so far. He was drying clothes when he stumbled and without anything to hold on he landed up losing his life. Unlike in the rest of the world here we blame on our fate and luck instead of blaming on the structural safety and holding people responsible. It doesn’t take too much brain to analyze that if there was railing the man wouldn’t have died by falling off the building, and if at all verandas are not allowed then access to outside of the third floor should be made illegal.
I wish to see some news media come and not just report the news but also make people answer a few questions on the safety of the attic dwellers.
The writer is a teacher with the Bajothang Higher Secondary School in Wangdiphodrang(PASSANG PASSU TSHERING)
good observation, but people still feel that it is his fate and are ignorant to talk about safety
yes! you are right. The mother of all the crats is ignorance:bureaucrats, autocrats n Hippocrates.
It is the building owner’s responsibility to provide railing. He/she is simply creating a space outside just to attract tenants and charge higher rent without thinking sensibly because the tenants are at the mercy of the building owners. If that particular flats was built meant for his own occupancy that veranda would have a nice railing. Generally, we Bhutanese speak only that we are religious but do not practice at all. ‘Khemay rogi denlu emay’.
Tsk tsk. May his soul rest in peace. How about the man holes-city can spend but cannot maintain. This equals more expenditure than we can afford. And hence more Rs than we can afford. One day someone will go through the man holes and then city corp will wake up. Must we wait for disasters or tragedies to realize? City-request #1. Please don’t let vehicles to drive on the pavements-it’s meant for people,not trucks. Get the cops to cooperate.
These are indeed lack of professionalism both in terms of planning and technical. Almost every structure, from footpath, road,..to building, you see only labors executing. Similar to accident from buildings, lots of accidents on roads too. the roads esp. highways, there isn’t any engineering to provide adequate safety. keep aside engg. even some road signs are really confusing.
Is RSTA responsible for maintaining the road safety or whatever dor construct is OK. I feel road safety in suppose to be on the road. Not in drivers. otherwise the authority should be called as Driver Safety Authority.
The fencing dividing the express way is another life threatening technology, i don’t know which standard of road safety is followed, but i have observed few labors are trying their best to keep the fence itself upright. Today they make it stand tomorrow its down again. I think, those fencing material are good for making birds’ cage than as crash guard for two automotive driving into head to head in opposite direction.
The BEST DESIGN IS THE FAIL SAFE DESIGN. P
Blame should put on to the Govt. and the local authority.Every Dzongkhag has different rules.You can see many building having attic with varanda in capital Thimphu,paro and Phuntsholing.. so why not in other places ?
Therefore, Govt. should allow people to have attic in proper manner like varanda.There are many such incomplete building in Bhutan due to different rules in different places.
there is law only for small people and no laws for big people la.