The Gewog Centre road leading to Talo in Punakha is in dire need of maintenance. Besides, the road is narrow and needs widening. According to the Talo Gup, the deteriorating road condition has been an issue for almost six years now. Residents and commuters say that the bad road condition is affecting their daily commute.
Commuters and residents say that only one vehicle can pass through as the road is quite narrow. Residents say let alone giving way to another vehicle, there isn’t any way for pedestrians when heavy vehicles pass through the road.
“When we come here for pilgrimage, the small road is inconvenient. Since the Talo Shedra here is a sacred place, those coming to visit the place face inconvenience due to narrow and bad road conditions. I am glad there were no big vehicles coming by when I came here, otherwise, there is no space to give way on the road,” said Karma Duba, a commuter.
“The road leading to Talo Shedra is small. There are a lot of people travelling on this road to visit the auspicious temple. Only one vehicle can pass through at a time which is inconvenient. On top of that the road is full of potholes,” said Kinzang Penjor, a resident.
“The road condition here is bad. It was better before. Not only is the road small but it is full of potholes. Personally, I cannot drive on this road,” said Namgay Dema, another commuter.
According to the Talo Gup, the Gewog administration has received several complaints regarding the road condition. He added that since there are several auspicious temples in Talo, there are a lot of commuters along the road.
“Previously when maintenance works were carried out for other gewog roads, the Talo GC road was not approved for maintenance. For this road, no matter how much we appeal for maintenance budget to relevant agencies, we still have not received a clear directive,” said Rinzin Wangchuk, Talo Gup.
He added that the gewog office will soon host a lot of renovation projects and religious programmes which call for an urgent improvement of the road.
Meanwhile, the Chief Engineer with the Department of Surface Transport’s Regional Office in Lobesa says the resurfacing works for the Talo GC road all depend on whether they receive a budget or not. He added that the yearly proposal for road resurfacing work was not approved this year.
Talo Gewog has five chiwogs and about 400 households.
Tashi Yangden, Punakha
Edited by Phub Gyem
