According to the Dramedtse Ngatsang Member of Parliament (MP), the cabinet’s order to hand over gewog centre (GC) roads to respective gewogs through the Department of Roads (DoR) has left many facing inconveniences while travelling. It also affected the livelihoods of families carrying out road maintenance works.
MP Ugyen Wangdi said there is a need for proper check and balance before formulating such a policy.
The first handing-taking of GC road was done between the regional office of the DoR in Tingtibi and Zhemgang Dzongkhag Administration. However, no budget was allocated for its maintenance. And making the matter worse, many locals who earned their livelihood maintaining such roads were left jobless.
To this, the Works and Human Settlement Minister, Dorji Tshering said that the Finance Ministry has allocated a budget.
“We have talked with the Local Government, asked them about the number of people working and their profile and the maintenance work. And we have calculated around Nu 25 M for that. This has also been allocated to most Local Government. One or two gewogs are left because the Local Government there has not proposed for the budget from the Finance Ministry. But again we have been informing them to propose the budget as per the rules,” said Dorji Tshering, the Works and Human Settlement Minister.
He said, as an interim measure, the Finance Ministry will release the budget for GC roads till June. The government has allocated Nu 19 M for monsoon restoration works.
Meanwhile, going by the record as the Works and Human Settlement Minister presented, seven GC roads are still with the DoR. It will be handed over to respective gewog administrations once the blacktopping works are complete.
Samten Dolkar
