The issue of whether each district should have a Yenlag Thromde (satellite town) cropped up once again during the question hour session in the National Council on Friday.
The issue was first discussed during the 3rd session of the parliament in 2009.
It was deferred as the parliamentarians could not come to a consensus.
The Deputy Chairperson of the National Council, Sonam Kinga, brought up the issue in the National Council.
“People feel that the value of their landholdings and other fixed assets would rise if these towns were declared as Yenlag Thromde. And they can acquire more loans using their property as mortgage.”
He said the people living in small towns feel that they should not be levied municipal and commercial taxes unless the place is declared a Yenlag Thromde,
To this, the Works and Human Settlement Minister Yeshey Zimba said it is not easy to decide on the Yenlag Thromde.
“For a municipality to qualify as Yenlag Thromde, it should have a minimum population of 1,500 and maximum of 5,000. Most of our towns identified for Yenlag Thromdes do not meet the criteria.”
However, he said if people think the town they live in deserve to be given the status of a Yenlag Thromde, they should put up a proposal to the government.
On the issue of tax, since the identification of a municipality for a Thromde created opportunities, Lyonpo Yeshey Zimba said people may have to continue paying commercial taxes.
