The 14 kilometres long Maenbi Gewog centre (GC) road in Lhuentse is in dire need of maintenance. With the onset of monsoon, the road condition turned worse with development of several potholes on the motorway.
The Maenbi GC road was the first GC road in Lhuentse to get blacktopping. The blacktopping works got completed in June 2015. Unlike other GC roads, it also serves the purpose to the local and international tourists who visit Takila on pilgrimage.
And most of the commuters got frustrated with the poor condition of the road.
“Initially, the road used to be in good condition but it turned worse recently. When it rains, drain water flows over the road making it worse. It is inconvenient to travel on such a bumpy road. Many people also visit Takila on pilgrimage these days,” said Jamyang Choden, living in Maenbi, Lhuentse.
“During the past few years, we enjoyed travelling on the road when the road used to be in good condition. But recently several potholes have developed on different stretches of the road and it’s inconvenient for us to travel especially during summer,” added Tshering, also a resident of Maenbi.
Some local people also say that it is inconvenient for them to travel to the local market to sell their farm produce.
“The road condition remained good for a few months after the blacktopping works got completed. However, it turned worse after that. It’s wastage of government resources when blacktopping works were not carried out effectively. When qualities of works get compromised, it doesn’t benefit the public,” said Lam Dorji, from Maenbi.
Maenbi Gup Tshethrimla says that the gewog has informed the officials of Department of Roads (DoR) based in Autsho about he road condition but nothing has been done so far.
“When I was serving as the gup from 2002 to 2005, the GC road was handed over to the DoR. Since then the department was looking after the road and carrying the maintenance works as well,” the gup said.
An Assistant Engineer from the DoR in Autsho says that maintenance of the Maenbi GC road will be proposed only in the next financial year that is 2020 and 2021. He, however, says that the capacity of a GC road is only eight metric tones but trucks carrying more than the carrying capacity of road move on the road and damage the road every time.
“The GC road turned worse due to ongoing maintenance of the courtyard at Guru Statue in Takila. We see lots of vehicle movement on the road and it damages our road,” the Maenbi gup added.
