Five villages in Samtse are inaccessible after a culvert-bridge over Lorikhachu under Tading Gewog was washed away.
The wall of the bridge was partially damaged in June, this year. On the August 16, the bridge was washed away following continuous rainfall, according to Tading’s Mangmi, Shar Man Ghalley.
Today, despite risks, people still use the bridge with a temporary ladder tied to it to get across the river. There is a suspension bridge downstream but then taking that route takes longer time.
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The bridge connected the gewog road to the Samtse-Phuentshogling highway, which is also under construction.
A few of the villagers said the bridge, which measured 7.4 metres long with a height of about 5 metres above the river, was too short for the monsoon-fed Lorikhachu.
The gewog administration said the bridge was constructed after the approval of the Dzongkhag Monitoring Committee. They said the length was decided as per the existing rules, because a longer bridge would have required a pillar. Meanwhile, reports say that the dzongkhag has already put a proposal for restoration budget to the Ministry of Finance.
The bridge was constructed in December last year at a cost of little over Nu.1.2 million.
