Heavy rains earlier this month washed away more than one-kilometre stretch of a farm road at Uesakha Chiwog in Punakha’a Barp Gewog. Triggered by a swollen stream, the flash flood has disrupted transportation for over 20 households and a staff quarter at Chimipang Royal Project. With the paddy harvest season approaching, residents are calling for urgent restoration of the road.
The flash flood completely washed away half of the stretch, leaving the area filled with large holes and boulders. The two-kilometre Jangsalum farm road, which descends from Metsina town, was constructed in 2019. The road runs along a small stream. Locals say the stream had never swollen or caused flash floods in the past, even during prolonged rainfall.
Due to the flood, the road has become dangerous even to walk on, especially for school-going children and elderly residents.
For the past two weeks, locals have been using alternative roads. However, they say it is time-consuming and inconvenient.
“The water flowed down along the road from the upper side. Since the road couldn’t handle the flow, it started overflowing into our houses. The volume of water was huge, and we were really scared. It began to subside by around 9 or 10 in the morning, but by then the road was already badly damaged. The water looked just like a river,” said Mangali Rai, Resident, Uesakha, Barp Gewog, Punakha.
“We are severely affected because there is no proper road. Using the longer route costs us extra and is very inconvenient. If our road were usable, one person could easily get the work done, but the longer route wastes a lot of our time and resources. No vehicle can use the road now, and one even got stuck there recently,” said Kinley Wangchuk, Resident, Uesakha, Barp Gewog, Punakha.
“Since we don’t have road access from the regular route these days, the royal project has been helping us. But there is still a major problem because their gate has fixed opening and closing times in the morning and evening,” said Pema Tsenzom, Resident, Uesakha, Barp Gewog, Punakha.
The gewog administration’s damage assessment report, submitted to the district administration, shows that it would cost around Nu 4.6 M to restore the road. After remaining closed for around two weeks, restoration works started a few days ago.
‘The original plan was to blacktop this farm road this time. However, due to the current problem, we have decided to use the budget for necessary maintenance work instead of blacktopping. We are expecting to complete the road maintenance within two weeks,” said Pasang, Barp Gup, Punakha.
He added that the maintenance work will be carried out with future vulnerabilities in mind, as the farm road is still prone to floods.
Changa Dorji, Punakha
Edited by Kipchu
