While most officer-goers in urban areas seek comfort and luxury when it comes to housing, life in remote areas paints a different picture. For officials working in Gakiling Gewog in Haa, the reality is far from ideal. Their office doubles as their residence due to lack of housing in the locality.
The RNR office, consisting of four units, serves as both homes and office.
One unit functions as the livestock extension office and the remaining accommodates the Gup, the gewog administration officer, and the livestock extension officer.
Finding rental housing near the gewog is impossible in such a remote area.
The Gup said he has to live near the Gewog office as his village is far from the Gewog centre.
Tashi Wangchuk, Gakiling Agriculture Extension Officer said “Currently, the RNR office here is used both as residence and office. Moreover, when we all stay together, we face water and toilet problems. To provide services, we need to have separate office and residence.”
Kezang Wangchuk, Livestock Extension Officer said “We have to live in the office all cramped. The livestock office must have a separate dispensary room and a room for official work. It is inconvenient especially when people bring their animals for treatment as we do not have separate rooms.”
Tempa Gyeltshen, Gakiling Mangmi said “I live in Dorithasa which is over 20 kilometres from the Gewog Centre. Due to the housing crunch here, I travel on a motorbike on a daily basis.”
Gakiling Gup Wang Tshering said “The gewog and people’s worry are that the officials get transferred and if the newly transferred ones have a big family, they might resign owing to the inconveniences. For now, the officials are giving their best.”
The gewog office planned to construct an eight-unit staff quarter. However, the Gup said the estimated budget which was around Nu 16 M was beyond the gewog administration’s capacity.
“The gewog planned it once. But a year’s budget would have been all used up for the staff quarter construction. So, we had to drop it. We prioritised works that would improve the villagers’ livelihood such as road improvement. So, we have approached the district administration and it has been included in the 13th Five-Year-Plan.”
For now, the hope for better living conditions rests on funding and support from district administration.
Namgay Wangchuk, Haa
Edited by Tshering Zam
