Providing safe and piped drinking water in villages is one of the priorities of the government. However, there are still some villages which are deprived of such facilities.
One such village is Laisingri Village under Dechhenling Gewog in Pema Gatshel. It is a rare sight to see water taps gushing with water in the village.
Villagers are still fetching water from nearby sources and carry it on their backs to home.
Some of the villagers said it is saddening to see other villages have piped water supply system.
“We feel sad that other villages have farm roads and piped water supply and here, we have to carry water stored in containers on our backs. We would be grateful if the government could look into it,” said one of the elderly villagers, Tenzin Dorji.
Another villager, Dorji Lhaden said, “When we come to fetch the water, our legs and hands ache. Due to this we might crumble and also on the way there are wild animals. But water is necessary to run errands”.
However, the gewog administration has explored alternatives to ease the lives of the villagers. They constructed tank to store water in the village.
However, the problem might end soon as the Tarayana Foundation is planning to construct water pumps to erect water from the underground.
“We thank Tarayana for the initiative, as we don’t have to make separate plans and allot budget for that. This village is not that large, it has only 12 households and that water source will be more than sufficient for them,” said the Gup of Dechhenling Gewog, Sonam Dendup
The water pumps construction will begin this month. Tarayana has already procured the machine for pumping water.
The village is nominated for the Rural Economic Advancement Program of Tarayana foundation.
