Since its construction in 2012, it provided basic education for about a hundred children of highlanders in Tshozhong chiwog in Gasa. We are talking about Mendrelthang extended classroom in Lunana, where the first Bhutanese Oscar-nominated feature film, Lunana: A Yak in the classroom was shot. But today, the classroom has fallen apart leaving the children of Tshozhong in fear of missing out on their classroom learning this year.

A video recording accusing the authorities of wrongly marking a building as a red building in Babena, Thimphu is going viral on social media. It was recorded by one of the tenants of the building. The Zoning team upon the health ministry’s recommendation marks buildings as red when residents test positive for the Coronavirus.

The country’s economy comes under yet another devastating impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the Economic Affairs Minister, the current COVID restrictions imposed to contain the spread of the Omicron variant comes as a major blow to the country’s target of bringing economic growth to five per cent by June this year. The minister said the current wave of Omicron variant will delay the Punatsangchhu Project-II commissioning by at least a year. It was otherwise due for a commission by July this year.

The uncertainty amongst Gaydrungs or Gewog clerks across the country regarding their posts has re-emerged. Their contract ends after three weeks. The Cabinet extended the contract by three years in 2019 following extensive deliberations in the National Assembly. However, the post has been in limbo since 2016 after a Royal Civil Service Commission or RCSC’s organisational development exercise found their position irrelevant.

The days of riding the narrow, dusty and pothole-filled road have finally come to end for the motorists using the Bajo-Khuru highway. The widening works along the nine-kilometre stretch of the road connecting Wangdue Phodrang to Punakha were completed a few months ago. And the road is already seeing an increasing number of vehicles. The government spent Nu 130 M to improve the road.

The residents living along the Trailing and Jarung Khashor road in Monggar are complaining about dust pollution. The project to widen and blacktop the road began in 2020. Officials said it was delayed due to the pandemic.

The former Norgaygang Gup and Mangmi along with the former Joenpang-Linggarnang Tshogpa appealed to the Samtse District Court. The Tashichhoeling Dungkhag court convicted them last month for the illegal construction of a farm road in the gewog in 2020.

Experts and analysts across the globe have warned that the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine will have a major impact on the global economy. And Bhutan is no exception. Being an import driven economy, the Economic Affairs Ministry said that this global crisis will further increase the country’s already high inflation. As such, the ministry has advised the wholesalers and Food Corporation of Bhutan to stockpile essentials to minimise the impacts of increasing prices of goods and commodities.

Farmers of Menchhuna in Dagana are hoping for a bountiful harvest this year. Unlike in the past, their farmlands are managed properly. Stone bunds or walls are laid in the fields as soil and water conservation measures.

After struggling for two years without a market, farmers in Pema Gatshel could finally sell their ginger harvest this year. The Food Corporation of Bhutan is buying the harvest from the farmers through the ginger buyback scheme.

Livestock depredation by predators has become quite rampant in Chungphel Chiwog of Chhumey Gewog, Bumthang in recent years. Of late, tigers have killed several yaks and cattle in the chiwog. Our reporter in Bumthang visited the only family in the chiwog who raises yak and saw for himself the menace brought by the predators.

Once again, the government came to the rescue of betel nut growers in Sarpang. The Task Force instructed the gewog administrations to help farmers transport the produce. Most of the farmers grow betel nut in Sarpang.