With monsoon arriving soon, the residents of Damzhagsa village under Norboogang Gewog in Samtse are worried about their chiwog’s farm road. Experiencing constant landslides at one point of the farm road, the village remains cut-off from the rest of the places for months, especially during summertime.
Residents of Damzhagsa or Dipujora village in Norboogang were delighted to have the chiwog farm road in 2005. The road is pliable although it is not in the perfect state. Nearly 80 per cent of its stretch is surfaced with Granular Sub Base (GSB).
The problem however is the stretch at Chepcheypay.
“The road is good during the winter season. But during summertime, it gets worst, especially in this area. A lot of water comes from above making the soil weaker. As such, there is frequent soil erosion and the road gets blocked now and then,” said Lal Bdr Rai, a resident of Damzhagsa.
“We have talked with the gewog administration and requested for a proper intervention here. But we were told that it will require them a huge budget to properly solve the problem here. This particular stretch is affecting us a lot,” said Kul Bdr Galley, another resident.
“To sell our farm produce, we have to travel and use this stretch. Likewise, when people get sick in the village, we have to rely on this road. But during monsoon season the road hardly serves its purpose as it remains blocked most of the time due to frequent landslides,” said Kumar Galley.
“We have small children using this path to reach their schools and during summertime, it is increasingly becoming risky for them. The road becomes weak and the constant erosion makes it worse. We don’t know what needs to be done here,” said Pritiman Galley.
While many villagers remain confused over a possible solution to the problem, a few suggested finding the source of the water that makes the hill above swampy during the monsoon.
“As per my opinion, I would suggest we find the source of the water coming from above and divert it to other places using Hume pipes and or making walls,” said Lal Bdr.
“One possible solution could be to divert the Dipu river and let it not affect the base of the road. Or we could also build a wall to help prevent the landslide in this area,” said Kumar Galley.
Likewise, they are also worried that the Shikari Dara, the village right above the road, might also erode if interventions are not made sooner. There are about seven households in Shikari Dara.
According to the Norboogang Gewog administration, they said they did not receive any complaints about the matter in the last two years. Moreover, they added that the gewog has recently carried out maintenance works on the stretch by spending Nu 3 M. They said that there are currently no plans concerning the farm road.
The gewog said that Damzhagsa residents still have the option of two ring roads connecting the village with Samtse Gewog.
For now, an individual from about 30 households in Damzhagsa come together once every month to do minor maintenance on the stretch. But this they say is not enough as it barely solves their problem. And until a solution is found, looks like the Damzhagsa residents will have to spend another monsoon with the same old problem.
Passang Dorji, Samtse
Edited by Sonam Pem
