It has been estimated that the Election Commission will be spending over Nu.26 million for the primary round of the National Assembly elections as our reporter Sonam Lhamo informs. The four Political Parties were given Nu. 130,000 for each constituency as campaign fund for the primary round of elections.

In total, the ECB has released about Nu.6.1 million for each Political Party, which amounted to over Nu. 24 million.

The Parties can use the fund for direct campaign purposes such as rental charge for the campaign office, printing of Party manifestos and communication expenses.  They can also use the campaign fund for acquisition of stationeries items and hiring motor vehicles among others.

Apart from the campaign fund, ECB will incur an additional cost of close to Nu.2 million on campaign materials for the four political parties. The campaign materials include posters, banners and placards.

The Parties will, however, have to bear the expenses for designing and production of the campaign materials, while ECB will bear the cost of printing.

The cost for advertisement in media, both broadcast and print is also being borne by the Election Commission.

Heavy rainfall washed away crops in Ladong village in Jaray Gewog in Lhuentse, yesterday.  It is feared that almost all the 47 households in the gewog have been adversely affected.

The village Tshogpa said the strong winds also blew away the roof of a house. The gewog centre has been informed about the situation. BBS has been told that the gewog officials are attempting to make their way to the area in spite of continuous rain.

The returning officer has begun receiving postal ballots for Bardo-Trong constituency in Zhemgang. But, repeating trends from the National Council elections, postal ballots are still being rejected.

The office of returning officer for Bardo-Trong constituency, Karma Tenzin, in Zhemgang has received 2,077 postal ballot applications. More than 300 postal ballots have been rejected from those received, says the officer.

The returning officer also shared that besides the registration problem, applications were rejected on the basis of voter records, the e-roll, and VPIC numbers as well.

“The rejections happened due to the absence of proper mailing addresses, and also most applicants assumed that if a spouse is registered, their husbands/wives are also automatically registered.”

He also said, many applications were without competent witnesses

Bardo-Trong Constituency has 2,829 eligible postal ballot voters. 1,720 postal ballots have been accepted, so far.

(Update:) The Dzongkhag Tshogdu has decided that sterilisation is the only immediate solution against the pack of stray dogs attacking cattle as well as people in Haa.

“Many people have been bitten by dogs in Uesu Gewog. Four cows have also been attacked. A few days back, a dead body was found half eaten by dogs, and we don’t know for sure if the deceased was attacked by the dogs, or had been eaten only after death. We need a solution urgently,” said Uesu Gup Tenzin Jamba.

The Dzongkhag Education officer, Sonam Tenzin, said several school children have also been bitten.  He said there is an immediate need to reduce the dog population in the dzongkhag.

 “When we go cycling in the mornings, the dogs chase us; they do that even when we drive. We need to find other means to curb this problem, and not only look at sterilisation.” He said about 10 people have also been bitten in the town area. “We need to also help the Livestock office address this problem.”

Meanwhile, the District livestock officer has said the dogs have the right to remain free, and shared that sterilization is the only solution to this situation.

Army worms have been eating away all the paddy saplings in Paro. Nine gewogs of the 10 in Paro have been overrun by army worms.

Farmers in the dzongkhag are worried that they will have no harvest, this year.

They have, however, been advised to use pesticides.

The Paro Dzongkhag Agricultural Officer, Rinzin Wangchuk, said it has been about five days since they first received report of worms. He says the weather is to blame for the surge in infestation. Army worms thrive in humid conditions.

Paro is among seven dzongkhags to have reported cases of army worm outbreak. The first case was reported in Punakha. The other dzongkhags include Lhuentse, Monggar, Zhemgang, Bumthang, and Wangdue Phodrang.

The Natural Resources Development Corporation Limited (NRDCL) has over 200,000 cubic feet (cft) of timber still unsold in their depots in different Dzongkhags. In a monthly timber allotment conducted in Bumthang, yesterday, only a handful of sawmill owners turned up.

Earlier, the officials say there used to be more than 50 sawmill owners during allotments before, but yesterday only 15 had turned up.

Now, the officials are worried that the huge stock of timber in their depots will perish without being sold.

“Because financial institutions have suspended housing loans we are finding it difficult to sell our timber. Demand has fallen drastically,” said Pema Norbu, Senior Finance Officer, Bumthang.

The NRDCL has even tried selling the surplus timber to private individuals and allotting unlimited timber to buyers. They also did away with the earlier method of allotment using a lucky dip system, to attract buyers. But all measures appear to have failed. At the allotment, yesterday, NRDCL could sell only about 15,000 cubic feet of timber.

Although, NRDCL officials in Bumthang want to export the unsold timber, a decision has not been made.

“The NRDCL is actually mandated to fulfill local timber demand only, but due to this situation, we are discussing the export of timber but no concrete step has been finalized at headquarters,” said Pema Norbu.

The officials say the export of timber could help ease the rupee shortfall situation to an extent. They add that if timber is exported, it will be done so at an increased rate. The current cost for a lot of timber is about Nu. 170,000.

A pack of stray dogs that escaped from the dog pound in Haa have been attacking people as well as cattle in the Dzongkhag. The local people say they were several instances where dogs had attacked the residents.

Just, recently a man had been bitten on his right leg by stray dogs and had to be referred to the National Referral Hospital in Thimphu.  Another had barely escaped being bitten by climbing a tree. Countless calves have also been attacked by the dogs.

Some of the students were also bitten. “Four students were bitten by the dogs and I myself was also been bitten. We sent a written complaint to the Dzongkhag, but nothing has been done,” said the School’s Principal, Kuenzang Tenzin.

Aap Sangay Dorji said his calf was attacked and killed by the dogs. “I saw about 15 dogs attacking my calf.”

The dog pound was constructed by the Dzongkhag Municipal office in 2008 but the pound is now empty.

“We reported the case to the Gup, Tshogpa and to the Dzongkhag but nothing has been done so far. We urge the Dzongkhag to take care of these dogs. We feel very insecure walking,” said Aum Yeshey Om.

The Dzongrab said the issue of the vicious dogs will be discussed on Monday at the Dzongkhag Tshogdu.

Baseball in Bhutan is now official with more than 50 children taking part in a Baseball coaching programme. The children will go through 9 coaching sessions, after which 5 children will be selected to represent Bhutan at the World Children’s Baseball Fair in Fukui in Japan in August.

The children are being coached by volunteers from JICA and JOCV.

A recent survey conducted during the Olympic day earlier this year, shows Baseball among the top 5 sports that children would like to play during the next Olympic day.

The 500^th community forest was handed over to Zamtog village in Geneykha Gewog under Thimphu, yesterday. The 136-acre Domche Drongdey Nagtsel was handed over by the Swiss Assistant State Secretary, Beat Nobs, to 23 households of Zamtog.

The community forest was developed after the Participatory Forestry Management Project was implemented with funds from the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation or SDC.

The community was gifted a power chainsaw by the SDC, as well. A seed money of Nu. 5,000 was also given to community.

Today, Bhutan has 57,300 hectares of area as community forests. Community forestry was first initiated in 1997. More than 22,000 households are involved in the initiative across the country.

The Indian Foreign Secretary, Ranjan Mathai, has assured that India is committed to supporting Bhutan’s 11^th Five Year Plan. He said their support towards the development of hydro-power in Bhutan would continue.

In a short meeting with the press, yesterday, the Indian Foreign Secretary, Ranjan Mathai, shared that the Joint Secretary North, Akhilesh Mishra, would return to the country to extensively discuss the 11^th Five Year Plan.

“India will support the plan, that is sure but how much and which projects…We will be working very closely with our colleagues,” said Ranjan Mathai. He said they will be checking on the outcomes of the major projects jointly with the Government of Bhutan so that both the counter-parts are satisfied. “My colleague here will be coming back shortly to discuss specially on the plan.”

Asked about funding difficulties faced by the hydro-power sector in the country, the foreign secretary said that all ministries in India were asked to cut down on expenses to bring the fiscal deficit within an acceptable range.

Ranjan Mathai added that with the new projects, creative thought is being applied to meet the financial costs of projects.

The foreign secretary shared that although no specific commitments have been made by the Indian government to the 11^th Five Year Plan, the Indian government is optimistic about working with the Bhutanese government.