Transporting farm produce is expected to become easier for the farmers of Gomdar_Richhanglu Chiwog in Samdrup Jongkhar. This is because their farm road has now been improved. Until this year, the road was in bad condition hampering the transportation of farm produce. The road was built some nine years ago and no major maintenance was carried out until recently.
Last year, around this time of the year, only pickup trucks could ply the 12-kilometre farm road.
But today, with the laying of the Granular Sub-Base, even the light vehicles can also travel along the road.
Moreover, the construction of a culvert over two streams made the road accessible even during monsoon.
The farmers of Gomdar_Richhanglu Chiwog produce varieties of vegetables during summer but due to the bad road condition, they could not sell them.
From this summer, they are expecting that they will be able to earn more by selling their harvest.
The Gomdar_Richhanglu Chiwog is the highest vegetable-producing area in the Gomdar Gewog.
“Road improvement work was started last year by the government and now we have an improved road. The travel time has also been reduced by an hour,” said Sonam Gyeltshen, a farmer.
“The road used to get blocked during June and July. Then we were able to clear the blocks only during winter. From this year, I think we will not face many problems as there are bridges, drains, and walls constructed along the road,” said Dapai, another farmer.
Sangay Chophel, who is also a farmer said “Last year, we struggled in transporting the harvest due to the bad road condition. Now, I am hoping that we will be able to transport it easily with the improved road.”
Besides the laying of GSB, other road improvement works such as road widening, and construction of drains, walls, and culvert were carried out spending around 18 million ngultrum.
The Gomdar Gewog office and Samdrup Jongkhar District Administration carried out the improvement work.
There are about 80 households in the chiwog.
Kinley Wangchuk, Samdrup Jongkhar
Edited by Tshering Zam
