People of Rangja Village under Yangtse Gewog in Trashiyangtse are crying foul over the recent Dzongkhag Tshogdu’s approval to establish a stone quarry near their village.
They are saying the quarry was approved by the Dzongkhag Tshogdue without their clearance and that the quarry will affect them in the future.
The approval went through special Dzongkhag Tshogdue on October 10.
The villagers say a group of men led by the village Tshogpa came to their village and promised to provide them electricity and road, but never said anything about the stone quarry.
They are now accusing the Tshogpa for making their wives sign an agreement when they were out for work. “We agreed saying there should be an agreement which should be written clearly and then we will sign. But then we never saw the agreement,” said Ngawang Yeshey from Rangja.
Another villager, Kuenzang Wangda, said he and his sister owns the only plot of land where they reside at the moment. “We don’t have anything other than this land. And I don’t want any land elsewhere nor do I want any compensation. I would be happy if I can stay in my own land.”
According to Yangtse Gup, Karma Wangchuk, the gewog could not not find out if the allegations hold any water since the village Tshogpa passed away recently.
“Initially the contractor has got the agreement from some of the people saying they do not have any impacts from the quarry but now I cannot say how they got it.”
Acording to Trashiyangtse Dzongda, Sangay Duba, the Dzongkhag Tshogdu approved the quarry for the larger interest of the people. He said the quarry site has also been inspected both by the Dzongkhag Environment Committee and the Tshogdue members.
But the people say they will appeal to higher authorities if Dzongkhag fail to respond to their request for investigation.
