People from two Chiwogs of Trashigang’s Thrimshing Gewog continue to wait for a motorable bridge over the Nyera-Ama River. Villagers say it has been a year since the old bridge collapsed due to incessant rainfall. Without a bridge, villagers have to take an alternate route to travel outside the gewog which takes more time.
The bridge which collapsed last monsoon connects Berdungma-Thungkhar and Ramchongma-Yemkhar Chiwogs of Thrimshing Gewog with the rest of Trashigang. The chiwogs have more than 200 households.
Officials said due to heavy rainfall, the river swelled up and washed away the base of the bridge last year.
The Thrimshing Dungkhag has collected and moved the bridge parts to a safer location.
In the absence of the bridge, villagers are resorting to a farm road as an alternative, which is connected to the Samdrup Jongkhar-Trashigang highway. However, this route is less favoured due to its longer distance and higher taxi charges. Some villagers opt to travel to nearby towns on foot using a suspension bridge.
“During the school midterm break, we had a hard time without a bridge. Our children had to walk crossing many cliffs which is risky. Similarly, when they had to return to school, we parents had to carry their belongings to the road point,” said Ngawang Chedra, a villager.
“When we go to Riserboo hospital, we had to travel via Khelam and people land up paying Nu 4,000 ngultrum as taxi fare. Earlier, when there was a bridge, we used to pay half the amount. People are facing problems without a bridge,” said Pema Wangchuk, another villager.
Spending over Nu 7 M, the collapsed bridge was constructed in the 2015-2016 financial year.
But their problems are expected to be solved soon. The Thrimshing Dungkhag says the government has approved the budget for the construction of a new bridge.
“In this financial year, the government has approved Nu 50 M to construct the bridge. Nowadays, the experts are at the sites where they will decide where the bridge should be constructed including the drawings and design of the bridge. We hope to construct the bridge soon,” said Tashi Tenzin, Wamrong Dungpa.
The Wamrong Dungpa who is the officiating Thrimshing Dungpa added that the bridge construction work is expected to begin next month.
According to the villagers and Thrimshing Gewog administration, this is the third time the bridge collapsed.
Sonam Darjay, Trashigang
Edited by Tshering Zam
