Residents of Wangtsa under Katsho Gewog in Haa want their chiwog removed from the dzongkhag thromde. Many of the 32 households, who depend on farm for their livelihood, say their source will be cut off if their village continues to be under the thromde.
They say a huge portion of their chiwog, mostly fields, have been demarcated under the new thromde plans.
“I have a small plot of land here. We have no intention of constructing building. If I lose this land, I’m worried I won’t have enough food to survive on,” said Sangchu, 74, of Wangtsa.
The locals also said no prior consultations were done before including their chiwog in thromde’s fold.
Their Tshogpa, Phub Dolay said everyone, including him, knew about it only during a meeting with election officials in July. By then, he said, they were told it was already finalized.
They had immediately sent petitions to relevant authorities.
“We put up letters to everyone; the dzongkhag, parliamentary representatives, our works and human settlement minister, but there has no response.”
Phub Dolay said it was also not even discussed during the parliament session.
Bji Kar Tshog Uesu MP, Kinley Wangmo said she wanted to put up the issue in plenary to discuss in the National Assembly but the letter she got was from the gewog office. The MP said the letter needs to be from Dzongkhag Tshogdu. “I reminded the Gup and DT Chairman but they told me the meeting was held up because of absence of other gups.”
The Dzongkhag Administration says the thromde map was not prepared by them, but sent from the Ministry of Works and Human Settlement.
The Thromde Thuemi, Norbu Tshering says he was then handed the responsibility to discuss it with the tshogpas of five chiwogs, which have been listed under the Thromde map.
Norbu Tshering said he contacted all five of them of which four refused the proposal in written.
“We received no response from the Wangtsa Tshogpa,” he said.
A group of the villagers also approached the Works and Human Settlement minister, last week. They said Lyonpo Dorji Choden has told them she will forward their plea to all the Members of Parliament, including the Prime Minister, once she gets the letter from DT.
