Villagers of Zung-Ngae village under Chhumig Gewog in Bumthang are blaming their gewog office and the Bumthang Dzongkhag Administration for lack of clarity after the budget to upgrade a crematorium in the village has been halted. This happened after two households of the village who have private land near the crematorium complained against the project.
People claim that the open-air crematorium was in use for more than two decades. And they were grateful for the proposed enhancement of facilities. However, they are torn now apart over its construction. The majority of them, almost 30 households, want the works started but two households are against the project. The dispute has dragged on for over 10 months and both the parties have repeatedly approached the gewog office and the Dzongkhag Administration for intervention. They now want the issue settled once and for all.
“Stones for construction works had already been unloaded at the site and there is a bit of excavation works to be carried out which the gewog office assured us of helping after all the clearances are obtained. Now the project has been put to a halt. We don’t understand the reason and the gewog office and the Dzongkhag Administration keep playing the blame game over the issue. We don’t know who is responsible for addressing it,” said Jamyang Tenzin, a resident of Zung-Ngae under Chhumig Gewog in Bumthang.
“The planning and proposal works were done by involving all the households of the village. The Gup also visited the site and told us that the budget has been allocated and that the construction would be complete before his tenure gets over,” said Euden, the Chipoen of Zung-Ngae chiwog.
“When all of us who are in favour of the project went to the Dzongkhag Administration and met the officials there, the Cultural and Land Record officials asked us to follow all the required procedures before executing the works. It is such a hassle,” added Sonam Lham.
Amid the frustration, the villagers who are for the project even constructed the base of the crematorium by themselves but they said the works were stopped. The gewog office has even transported the stones gathered for masonry works to another construction site last week. However, people are determined, they want the structure built on the site by all means.
“The authorities are blaming each other and now the work has been halted. Stones and timber have been transported elsewhere when informed the Dzongkhag Administration about it, they said there is nothing they can do about it,” said Gyem Lham, from Zung-Ngae.
“The households who are against the construction approached the Dzongrab and he told the people to look for another site but there are no other suitable sites nearby. We are not trying to make life difficult for the two households. If authorities cancel the construction based on the complaints made by the two households, there is no other way for us than to pitch our own tents and conduct the cremations here itself by our own means,” said Deki Yangzom.
“We don’t know who is responsible for all these but we want the authorities concerned to be objective and fair. If they relocate the site somewhere far, we won’t approve of their choice. We are poor farmers, we don’t own cars and we have only limited manpower,” added Dechen Zam.
Jangchub is one of the complainants. The other is her sister. The sisters own land just below the crematorium. They are planning to construct houses there.
“I don’t have any resentment against my fellow villagers but they want the crematorium built right above my land where I will be constructing my home. We have already excavated the land, years ago. It might bring me and my future generations misfortune to have a crematorium right above our home. The public has no room for compromise, so I had to complain to both gewog and Dzongkhag Administrations,” she said.
The gewog office said due to the dispute among the villagers, the cultural clearance and the land lease certificate couldn’t be obtained to carry out the construction. The office has diverted the budget allocated for the project for the construction of a canteen at an archery range.
“We told the complainants that it is not fair on the public to have the crematorium relocated when few individuals are not in favour of it, firstly because the crematorium has been in use for over two decades and secondly the area is state land. The complainants then approached the Dzongkhag Administration for intervention,” said Jampel, the Chhumig Gup.
He also said the gewog office has obtained the forestry clearance and is working on obtaining other clearances.
“It is certain that we can’t start the works in the current financial year as we haven’t got the clearances and there are only two months left before it closes. However, this doesn’t mean that the project is terminated. The Dzongkhag Administration asked us to get all clearances before commencing the construction, so we are working on that and we are hopeful that we will be able to start the works in the next financial year,” he added.
The Dzongkhag Administration said a notice has been issued to the Gewog Administration in March asking the office to follow all the required procedures before works get underway. There were no further comments from them. However, records with the Land Record sector show that the Dzongkhag Land Allotment Committee allotted a 23-decimal land at Yamthrag village in the same chiwog in 2019 for the construction of a crematorium. However, it couldn’t be constructed, as people of Zu-Ngae wanted the crematorium at the disputed site as per the gup. The Dzongkhag Land Committee will have to revisit the old allotment if the construction is to be carried out at Zu-Ngae.
Kipchu, Bumthang
