Local leaders in Zhemgang couldn’t move past the Bhutan Bird Festival which was held in November last year. During the district’s recent Dzongkhag Tshogdu, the local leaders recommended the district administration organise the Bhutan Bird Festival more efficiently, utilising locally available resources. They condemned the organisers of this time’s bird festival for hiring costly tents from Thimphu and not offering any opportunities to the people of Zhemgang during the festival.
In the meeting, local leaders said the festival would have benefitted the locals had the organisers used locally available resources for the event including in the pitching of tents.
Doing so, they added, would also promote the unique culture and resources of Zhemgang, adding to the authenticity and charm of the festival.
“Using imported tents and materials during the Bhutan Bird festival does not look nice in the eyes of the visitors as well as for locals. If we could use our traditional and locally available resources, it would benefit our communities. Hiring imported tents is too expensive and the money goes out without benefiting the people,” said Dorji Wangchuk, Trong Mangmi.
“It’s considered as the Khenrig-Namsum’s festival and also the national event that we have been creating awareness and advocating for to garner our people’s support. However, at the end of the event, LG leaders are being blamed by the people,” said Tashi, Phangkhar Gup.
“In eight different gewogs, we have different kinds of resources available and I have also seen the previous editions of the Bird Festival using local resources for pitching tents and stalls using banana leafs and bamboo. Using these resources will make the event appealing for all the visitors while showcasing our rich culture here,” said Tshering Tenzin, Bardo Mangmi.
“Last time, the district administration instructed the eight gewogs to pitch tents on our own. In addition, we have also been told that the funds for the preparations are being provided by the Department of Tourism. Accordingly, decided to award the contract for pitching tents to a community contractor. We have no idea what went wrong later,” said Tshering Wangchuk, Bjoka Gup.
The organizing committee of the Bhutan Bird Festival has hired about 20 tents from Thimphu for the three-day annual event. 64 individuals who came to do business at the event said the tent rental charge was too high and only a few could make profit by setting up business in the tents.
Those interested businessmen who came to do business in the event said tents are too small and the charges too high. In three days, we have to pay 11 thousand ngultrum for each tent. Next time, instead of hiring tents I would say stalls built the traditional way using locally available resources in Zhemgang would make sense,” said Dorji Wangchuk, a businessman in Trong Gewog.
“There are not many people coming for the event and charging Nu 10,000 -11,000 is too high. For us, we brought our own tents and had to pay Nu 5000 for using the land. It was difficult for us to even meet that. This festival has not benefitted us in general,” said Dupthob Yangki, a businesswoman in Thimphu.
However, the district administration said with limited time for preparation as the festival coincided with the National Assembly elections they had to hire the tents.
In addition, the officials said, they refrained from using leaves to pitch stalls after nature conservationists raised concerns that it destroys wildlife habitats.
Organizing officials said the LG leaders did not participate in organizing the festival despite being included in the team.
Every year, 11-13th November is celebrated as the Bhutan Bird Festival at Tingitbi in Zhemgang.
Pema Samdrup, Zhemgang
Edited by Phub Gyem
