Although Nabchhed Chiwog in Punakha has the potential to grow all kind of crops, water shortage continued to be a challenge for the villagers. People even do not have sufficient drinking water. The Chiwog has favourable weather and even the soil is fertile to grow crops.
When most of the farmers in the country are cultivating winter vegetables at this time of year, fields in Nabchhed Chiwog under Lingmukha Gewog wears a barren look. Growing vegetables is not so popular in the Chiwog. This is because of the water shortage.
“Our fields are seen barren at this time of the year because of water shortage. It’s useless to work when there is no water as the crops do not grow well. Crops are damaging by pests when there is no water,” said Kencho Wangdi, the Tshogpa of the Chiwog.
“If we have water, we are interested in growing vegetables such as cauliflower and spinach in winter. We have to wait for the monsoon, as we have to depend on rain,” said NidupTshomo, another resident.
According to the residents, the water shortage has become severe these days compared to past years.
“Earlier, we used to have sufficient water but now we are struggling. It has been around seven to eight years that the water source near our village has dried,” said Namgay La from Nabchhed Chiwog.
He added that “we have another water source which is far away from our area but even this water source is drying gradually. Today we have one big reservoir tank above our village to store the water.”
“Let’s forget about irrigation water. We do not have sufficient drinking water. Our water source is far from here. It takes around 3 hours to reach to the source,” said Tshering Pem, another resident.
Villagers also constructed several water reservoirs with support from the Gewog administration. However, water shortage still remains a problem.
Meantime, the Gup said that almost every household has its own water source.
“We do not have any separate plans as such for the water supply because we did not receive any complaints from them. Even if we receive such complaints, we will have to first examine whether the water sources are properly managed or not,” said Sonam Tobgay, Lingmukha Gup.
He added that the community has been provided with the water supply since the 11th Five Year Plan.
The Chiwog is about five kilometres away from the Gewog Center road and has more than 30,000 people.
Changa Dorji, WangduePhodrang
