There are grounds for hope for the people of upper parts of Chhoekhor Gewog in Bumthang, who have long been waiting for their farm road to be blacktopped.
The recent Dzongkhag Tshogdu (DT) resolved to propose to the government for the possible upgradation of the farm road to feeder road. The Works and Human Settlement Ministry considers upgrading an existing road to a higher class based on traffic counts and other socio-economic reasons.
The 17-Kilometre farm road begins from Chhoekhor Gewog Office. It was constructed in early 2000s. The road has a soling currently but the gewog administration finds it difficult to maintain the road.
“As the road is not in good condition, the gewog cannot afford to maintain it due to budget constraints. So, they want to upgrade it into a feeder road. After a lot of deliberations, we decided to propose to the Works and Human Settlement Ministry to upgrade the road into feeder road,” said Jampel, the Chairperson, of Bumthang DT.
The road connects 15 villages of Chhoekhor Gewog. There are about 180 vehicles plying the road.
Chhoekhor Gewog’s Gup, Pema Doengyel: “If the road becomes a feeder road and if it is blacktopped, besides the people of the gewog, it will benefit officials working at the Wangchuck Centennial National Park, Gross National Happiness Centre and Royal Bhutan Army’s camp, which are all located in the gewog.”
Farmers also felt, the farm road needs to be properly maintained. “For the past three years or so, the Wangchuck Centennial National Park filled up the potholes with sand and soil but it doesn’t help much as the mixture gets washed away by rain during summer,” said one of the farmers, Singye Namgay.
Chhoekhor Gewog has more than 200 households with 1500 residents.
The post DT resolves to propose for blacktopping of farm road in Chhoekhor Gewog appeared first on BBS.