Residents of Phongmey Gewog in Trashigang are longing to get their Gewog Centre Road blacktopped before the onset of the monsoon. The eight-kilometre GC road was last blacktopped in 2016.
Although some portion of the road can be seen properly blacktopped most stretch are damaged and have started developing potholes.
Some stretch of the road can be seen damaged by overflowing stream water posing difficulty in maintaining.
Commuters claim that the bad road condition prolongs their travel time besides incurring extra expenses on vehicle maintenance.
“During summer, the road starts developing potholes which get filled with water and as a result we can’t see the depth of the pothole and end up damaging our vehicles. The road condition is becoming worse. I request the government to provide better road as it is important for us,” said Rinchen Wangdi, a resident.
“Between Trashigang and Phongmey, the road blacktop has almost worn out making it difficult for us while traveling. Now, that the new government is formed we are expecting that the issue will be addressed as they have promised to blacktop the road,” said Dorji, another resident.
According to Phongmey Mangmi, due to a lack of adequate budget the gewog could not blacktop the road and had been carrying out maintenance work instead.
“We could not blacktop the road but we have carried out maintenance works and filled in the potholes with gravels in the last financial year. However, as we get more rainfall here, and moreover people do paddy cultivation which means there is plenty of water overflowing even along the road, so the road gets damaged easily,” said Wangdi, Phongmey Mangmi.
The road benefits more the 700 households including residents of Merak and Sakteng Gewogs.
Sonam Darjay, Trashigang
Edited by Phub Gyem
