People once again are raising the issue of the poor condition of the Kurtoed Gewog Centre road in Lhuentse. They questioned the quality of blacktopping when the work was ongoing in January 2018. Today, the road is riddled with potholes.
It has been only a few years since the road was blacktopped. Some portion of the 45 kilometres long Gewog road is left without blacktop while some other stretches have no proper drainage.
Moreover, few kilometres of marshy road between Zhamling village and Dungkar have been a nightmare to the commuters.
“Every year many people come to visit the Nagtshang including His Majesty the King. Even the Boleros are facing difficulty travelling through the road. And light vehicles also get hit by the bumpy road. During summer, we cannot travel on the road since the road turns into a terrace,” said Sonam Wangmo, a resident of Kurtoed.
“The base course was also not done properly. So, it is not convenient to travel on the road. And it is more challenging for those vehicles carrying loads. And it is also troublesome for those pilgrims who are coming here on pilgrimage,” said another resident, Tashi Tshering.
The Kurtoed Gup, Ugyen Tshering said that the movement of the heavy vehicles along the road has further damaged the road.
The gewog has already reported the matter to the Department of Road’s Sub-division in Autsho for intervention.
The Gup said, “when we report the issue to the Engineers of the department of roads, they just come here and fill up the potholes with soil. And such intervention won’t help much since the heavy vehicles damage the road again.”
However, Assistant Engineer Karma Galey at Autsho Sub-division says that Department of Roads returned almost Nu 10 M since over three kilometres of road between Zhamling and Dungkar could not be blacktopped. He said the area was wet and marshy.
He added that they will soon deploy a backhoe loader to fill up the potholes between Zhamling and Dungkar.
With hundreds of domestic pilgrims visiting Kurtoed, and the Dzongkhag Administration planning to convert Jigme Namgyal’s Nagtshang into a museum, the Gewog Centre road has a bigger role to play in boosting the economy.
Sonam Tshering, Monggar
