Falling boulders from a farm road construction site damaged several houses in Yalang Gewog in Trashiyangtse on 14th March.
Ever since the construction of the farm road began, the people of Yalang village have been living in fear of losing their lives. Daily activities have been adversely affected. The roofs, toilets and ladders of about sixteen houses have been damaged. Electricity has been cut off as electric poles were damaged by the boulders. Drinking water supply has been affected also.
The farmers’ paddy fields are all covered by boulders.
“Our paddy season is about to start, but we were not able to sow paddy seeds because our fields our filled with stones. Our irrigation canal has been damaged, we don’t know what to do”, exclaims a farmer, helplessly.
A resident, Karmo, says, “If properties are damaged, we can replace them, but what if somebody gets killed, who can give us back our lives?”
A team of Dzongkhag officals led by the Trashiyangtse Dzongrab and other gewog authorities visited the gewog on Saturday to assess the damage and investigate the situation.
The Dzongrab said the Dzongkhag tender committee will decide what to do next after the enquiry is completed.
The contractor responsible for the construction said he would comment only after the tender committee’s decision.
