The briquette manufacturing unit at Ramtokto in Thimphu is struggling to keep with the growing demand. Briquettes are compact sawdust logs the size of your wrist.
They have many advantages over firewood. They are clean, produce negligible smoke, and affordable. They make use of sawdust from sawmills, which is otherwise dumped in the river or elsewhere polluting the environment.
There is but one problem. The supply cannot keep up with the demand. The Natural Resources Development Corporation which is running the briquettes manufacturing unit in Ramtokto attributes it to shortage of raw materials and labour.
The unit can produce about 60 bags of briquettes in a day but due to sawdust and laborers, the unit is producing briquettes only on alternate days.
Every morning, around 30 people gather in front of the unit office, coming as early as 7am in the morning in the hope of getting a bag or two of the precious stuff. If they are lucky, they will get two bags each. Late comers go home empty handed.
“I have been here for three to four times. And every time I was told it is out of stock,” said one irate customer.
The shortage, it is believed, has also been caused partly by the huge orders from the armed forces.
There are 13 sawmills in the capital from where the briquette unit gets its raw material. It is planning to get sawdust from neighbouring dzongkhags.
