The people of Zhelngo in Sharpa Gewog, Paro complained and refused to give an extension for the operation of hot mix plant. The hot mix plant in Sharpa which was used for blacktopping 55 km Thimphu-Paro highway is brought to a halt.
The Dzongkhag Administration gave the environment clearance for the extra days to Lotey construction in the interest of the nation for the Indian Prime Minister’s visit to Bhutan scheduled in August this year. The hot mix plant in Zhelngo that had been used to blacktop Bongdey-Chelela road and Thimphu-Paro Highway since November last year has now been stopped after people of Zhelngo turned down the Ministry of Work and Human Settlement’s request to extend 15 more days.
Initially, the Sharpa Gewog administration gave Lotey construction the clearance to operate the Plant only to blacktop Bondey to Chelela road from November last year till March this year.
However, after Lotey construction got the tender for blacktopping of Thimphu-Paro highway from DANTAK, they once again requested the Gewog Administration. The Dzongkhag and Gewog administration gave the clearance.
“The permission that we gave was for more than three months, however, we requested the people for three months. They agreed to give three months but they said that they can’t even extend a day after that. They even said the plant should be closed and machinery should be taken away. So everyone agreed and we made an agreement. I asked Lotey Construction if they could complete the works in three months and they said they will complete it in the given time period. Both the parties signed the agreement,” Chencho Gyeltshen, the gup of Sharpa Gewog, said.
As per the agreement, the plant was to stop on July 4, but it did not since they have not completed the works. This fueled the locals to question the clearance and raised the issue to the gewog, Dzongkhag and National Land Commission. People say that the smoke from the plant has hampered their crop production and caused Asthma to around 20 people in the village.
“They haven’t asked for our consent. Right now there are cases of people falling sick due to asthma and throat pain. Furthermore, the smoke has affected our crop. After paddy transplantation, the transplant withered. Then even our vegetables have perished,” said Tshering Dorji, from Sharpa Gewog.
“Instead of blacktopping the highway road, they have been doing works at other places. They have pushed back the important work and now they want an extra 15 days. We believe they could have completed the work in three months and we can’t give them more time. They are asking for 15 more days because they are planning on continuing other works from here. So we cannot give them even one more day,” added Tsagay, from the same gewog.
However, the Plant according to Dzongkhag Administration has been inspected four times and since the hot mix machine has pollution control equipment in it, they state that the effects on crops and health are minimal.
Paro Dzongkhag Administration still upholds the environment clearance issued for the additional days.
According to Lotey construction, due to machine break down and the rain, the blacktopping works were not complete. The Paro-Thimphu highway is left with 8 km without blacktopping. Lotey Construction requested for 15 more days and Dzongkhag Administration issued the environment clearance on 15th July. The contractor claims to have worked from 5 am in the morning till mid-night to complete the work on time.
Meanwhile, the contractor is still with no new place to move the machinery. Since the machinery is filled with a mixture of bitumen and gravels, moving without emptying the mixture would damage the machines as well. Despite the works are stopped, the hot mix plant is still at the site.
