People of four villages in Maenchhulam chiwog of Gakiling Gewog in Sarpang have waited for decades to have their community connected with a farm road. However, the completion of the 10-kilometre farm road last year has fulfilled their wishes. They say it has uplifted their livelihoods.
In the absence of a farm road, farmers haven’t been able to earn a good income although they grow orange and cardamom. People have been walking for about four hours to reach the market carrying the farm produce on their backs.
But the farm road construction has eased all the struggles.
“There is a huge benefit with the construction of the farm road. It is very convenient to reach sick people at the hospital. Transporting things from here and getting things from the town is very convenient with access to a farm road,” said Kham Badhur Rai, a resident.
“We never dreamed of having a farm road here. However, the government made it possible and constructed. This place is very favourable for growing oranges and cardamom. So, with the farm road, it will now be very convenient to transport oranges and cardamom. It now takes only an hour for the vehicles to reach the market which used to take more than two hours by foot,” said Jiwan Kumar kamar.
“When this road was not there, we used to collect around Nu 400,000 to 500,000 from the communities and used to construct a road along the riverside when transporting our farm produce to the market. Now it has become convenient with the construction of the farm road by the government. We are happy and grateful,” said Tarabir Tiwari.
While the construction of the farm road has brought smiles to the community, the boulders and timbers from the road construction have damaged the orchard farm of some farmers.
“I don’t mind uprooting my fruit trees because access to the road will benefit me in transportation. But I wish the concerned authority to remove the boulders from my orchard,” said Raj Kamal, the affected farmer.
However, according to the Gewog administration, the individual thram holders were consulted upon which they agreed to the farm road construction.
“While constructing the road, some places encountered problems but we had no issue with the rest of the areas. We had ‘no objection’ signatures from every individual for the farm road construction. We carried out the road construction for the benefit of the community as a whole and not just for one individual,” said Gakiling Gup, Nim Dorji Sherpa.
The farm road worth about Nu 22 M benefits about 80 households in four villages.
Karma Wangdi, Sarpang
Edited by Sonam Pem
