Following the go-ahead by the government, plot-owners in Autsho town of Lhuentse have begun preparations to construct houses. But this has heightened the worries of other residents who don’t own plots in the Town. They have been living on private land on lease but have been told to vacate now.
One landowner has already started constructing his new house.
The other plot-owners are also procuring construction materials and getting ready to start work. They are waiting for the people who have built temporary homes on their land to vacate.
The 34 families residing on the private land say they have nowhere to relocate to now. When they were told to move out of their old homes in 2018, they said they were promised they would be given plots where they could settle permanently.
“The Dzongkhag Administration agreed to give us plots as well, so we demolished our old structures and moved here,” Tsheringla, who is one of the families living in a temporary home, said. “It has been almost three years now and they have said nothing yet”.
The residents say their expenses have also increased significantly since the lease amount is more than double of what they used to pay as rent before.
Another resident, Cheki Dorji said, “We made the lease agreements for only one year because we were told we would get the plots by then. But it has now been almost three years that we have been waiting. ”
“The Dzongkhag Administration has given the clearance for plot owners to start construction, but we are in difficulty because there is no other place to move to,” said Pema Cheki.
All the 34 families are shopkeepers and have set up shops on the leased land.
Meanwhile, a few landowners are also unhappy with the land demarcations and mapping works.
“Since the internal road went through my land, I was given a substitute land which is a few meters away,” said KB Pradhan. “But this land is risky.”
Ngawang Tshering has a different issue. “I got a substitute for my land, but now another person has the Lagthram to that land. They think we knowingly applied for this land and quarrel with us,” he said.
The issues were discussed at the recent Dzongkhag Tshogdu.
“Despite the ministry of works and human settlement completing the local area plan, the developmental activities could not kick off since some shopkeepers didn’t get plots to construct houses,” said Tsaenkhar Gup Tsheten Wangdi. He added a few landowners came to the Gewog office and the office forwarded their appeal letters to the Dzongkhag Administration.
Meanwhile, Lhuentse Dzongda Jambay Wangchuk said they cannot do anything without directives from the relevant agencies.
The Dzongkhag office says they already sent a plot allotment proposal to the National Land Commission last year but have not received any response.
The Dzongkhag Tshogdu resolved to send a letter to the NLC to remind them of the proposal. They will also send a letter to the ministry of works and human settlement asking them to review their Local Area Plan.
Plans to set up a Satellite Town or Yenlag Thromde in Autsho began in 2015 and was approved in 2017. The Dzongkhag Office started giving approval to landowners to start house constructions from the end of last year.
Sonam Tshering, Lhuentse
Edited by Yeshi Gyaltshen
