Radhi Gewog in Trashigang wears a forlorn look. The village which once held a promise of growing prosperity has become a scattered and almost deserted village. Many people have and are drifting to urban centers for the want of employment and better facilities, abandoning their ancestral homes. Rural-urban migration has hit Radhi Gewog hard.
The gewog has more than 100 houses which are locked up. And it is increasing.
Radhi Gup, Jigme Namgyal says the number of empty houses have risen by two percent this year. “We are worried. We are worried because when the government provides facilities, people will have to contribute labor. We do not have enough people to carry out the assign task, and the projects might get revoked,” he said, adding Radhi may never catch up with other gewogs when it comes to development. He also said many people still own lands in the gewog which are leased out to other people. “These people do not contribute labor.”
It is estimated that there were around 700 empty houses in the Dzongkhag last year.
Langten village, under Radhi gewog has only 11 households of which five are empty. “Those of us who are staying back now have to contribute double then what we used to contribute in the past,” said Rinchen Wangdi of Langten village.
According to the Dzongkhag administration, apart from other reasons, lack of family members to work in the field could be the main reason behind the rural-urban drift.
“They leave their house to live with their children who are working in the urban places. The other reason could be due to human-wildlife conflict,” said the Trashigang Dzongda, Lungten Dorji.
