Residents of Dewathang in Samdrup Jongkhar Thromde are perturbed by the overhead wiring system in the town, which may break down, posing risks to their lives. Therefore, they are hoping the concerned agencies will remove the overhanging cables and put them underground.
Residents say their fears intensify especially during the windy and rainy seasons as the meshes of intertwined overhead wires may trip out. There is no record of people being hit or electrocuted by the fallen lines so far. However, they say it is the right time to fix the problem before any such untoward incident occurs.
“We don’t worry much when it is sunny days. But when we receive rain or experience gusty winds, we really fear that the overhead wires might crumble and injure us,” said one of the residents in the town, Nima Gyeltshen.
Like him, other residents raised their concerns.
“I think wires need to be put underground because there are chances of them to crumble and cause damages to properties and people during rainy and windy seasons,” added Sonam.
The issue was discussed during the recent Thromde Tshogde. The members suggested that the thromde administration should dig trenches to lay the utility cables while other relevant agencies will provide the required materials.
“If area falls under thromde, the thromde administration should construct trenches and relevant agencies like BPC and telecom will provide their materials to put the cables underground. For BPC, materials are ready,” said Tshewang Dorji, the Manager of Bhutan Power Corporation (BPC) in Samdrup Jongkhar.
Thromde officials clarified that they didn’t construct the underground duct in Dewathang when it constructed the footpath along the roadsides in 2019.
They reasoned this since other stakeholders had no plans of laying cables underground then.
“We thought of constructing a footpath with a common duct but BPC told us they will be able to do that only by 2022. So, we continued with footpath construction but now we are happy that BPC is ready with the plan,” said Nima Dorji, the Officiating Executive Secretary of the Samdrup Jongkhar Thromde
Following the discussion, the thromde tshogde resolved to prepare and sign a Memorandum of Understanding with the relevant agencies like Bhutan Power Corporation, Bhutan Telecom, and cable operators.
The MoU will ensure that the thromde and its stakeholders develop similar plans and allocate budget at the same time.
If things materialised on time, then Dewathang will soon become free of overhanging cables, which are not only bothersome to the residents from the safety aspect but also degrade the town’s beauty.
Kinley Wangchuk, Samdrup Jongkhar
Edited by Pema Lhaden
