After spending more than Nu 200,000 of his hard-earned money and months of hard work to build a home, 32-year-old Targay is left devastated when local leaders of Gongdue Gewog in Monggar demolished his newly constructed house in Yangbari last Friday. The officials say the house was built on the state land without any approval from the gewog and Dungkhag Administration.
However, Targay claims the house is built on his mother-in-law’s ancestor’s land. He says he also submitted an appeal letter to the office of the Gyaltshab in Gyalpoizhing to reinstate the plot as Kidu land.
“The local leaders from Gongdue Gewog suddenly came to our village to demolish my house. I have requested them to give some time to demolish it but they never listened to me. And I would be grateful if officials from national land commission visit Gongdue Gewog for inspection of land encroachment,” said Targay, in Pikari_Yangbari chiwog under Gongdue Gewog in Monggar.
Targay’s father-in-law Tshering Dorji also claims that the plot belongs to their ancestors.
“Our forefathers used to cultivate crops on the same plot. And later on in 1995, I came myself to do a survey for the same plot while I was working in the Royal Bhutan Police. And I wasn’t there when the national land commission carried out new sathram compilation during 2002 and 2003. And the issue occurred during that time when the survey was carried out,” he said.
However, according to the investigation carried out by the Weringla Dungkhag Administration, the structure was illegally constructed on the state land. The investigation report also states that during the National Cadastral Resurvey Program 2009, the same plot was resurveyed but it was reported as uncultivated land, which did not fulfil the criteria to be reinstated in the Thram through Kidu. The report also reveals that the landlord did not follow due procedure while constructing the structure. The dungkhag and gewog administration also notified him to stop the construction activities prior to demolishing the structure.
“Prior to the construction of partition walls, I notified him to demolish the construction activities but he denied to demolish it. I agreed with him since it’s so painful to demolish our own house constructed by ourselves. So I issued a notification letter to demolish the structure,” said Dorji Tshering, the Gongdue Gup.
Meanwhile, Weringla Dungkhag Administration also stopped the construction of a private chorten in Yangabri chiwog. The dungkhag and gewog administration will also soon demolish two shops, which were illegally constructed on the state land near the gewog center. Currently, there are more than four structures, which were illegally constructed on the state land in Gongdue Gewog.
Sonam Tshering
