Prime Minister leads from the front

When the full fury of the monsoon season struck and washed away Sarpang town, cut roads and started threatening Amochu’s embankments the Prime Minister was on a visit to the highlands of Soe and Lingzhi to meet the people there.

However, on 23rd July concerned with the situation and in his own words, inspired by His Majesty The King who was overseeing relief operations, Lyonchhen rushed down to Phuentsholing to ascertain the Amochu flood threat.

On arrival in Phuentsholing on the 23rd July evening Lyonchhen  travelled straight to Amochu river protection work site and joined the Army, Police, Desung, Thromde and Dungkhag Officials, workshop owners and other volunteers carrying out the flood mitigation work. Lyonchhen thanked them for their hard work in times of need and said that it was a true reflection of their reverence to His Majesty the King.

Lyonchhen worked the work site the volunteers in heavy rain till 1 am in the morning.

While the restoration work was going on along Amochhu, some people refused to evacuate since they own small shops. Lyonchhen visited the Amochu area and convinced the residents to evacuate to safer places.

On 24th July he visited Sarpang town and that was washed away and also Gelephu which had also been flooded.

Talking to the affected people of Sarpang town, Lyonchhen  said that he was disturbed by the news of damages caused by the monsoon but it a big relief when he heard His Majesty the King was here to oversee their welfare. Lyonchhen also said that people should be willing to work harder and take this incident as a big lesson.

Then following this Lyonchhen over the next three days visited the Kamji area four times to monitor the progress of a bailey bridge that had to be installed after an entire stretch of the Phuentsholing-Thimphu highway was washed away.

With the bailey bridge requiring a few days the PM supervised the clearing of the Pasakha-Manitar bypass road by the Department of Roads asking for help from even Pasakha Industrialists who supplied both labour and machinery.

This made it possible to open the Pasakha-Manitar bypass and reconnect Phuentsholing and Thimphu.

All of the above actions struck a chord with many Bhutanese who thanked the Prime Minister on his official and personal Facebook pages.

The Prime Minister said that the pictures were more dramatic then in real life and so there was no unnecessary risk taken by him.

“I did not do more than required of me as a public servant and it is nothing out of the ordinary as it is expected of public servants.”

The PM said he wanted to get a feel of the ground realities only after which it is possible to take accurate decisions. He said another reason was also to provide a moral boost where needed and be there to offer his help.

He said, “The main reason is that His Majesty puts aside everything and then takes personal risk to go and be with the people. When the Monarch does this it is incumbent on me as a public servant to also serve. It is only natural to feel inspired and motivated by His Majesty.”

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