While the general belief is ‘before you can save others, you must save yourself’, some officials in Monggar Gewog are working from a structure filled with cracks. The structure houses COVID-19 control room, and the officials are entrusted to help those in need amid the pandemic.
Incessant rain in 2019 caused major damages to the walls and the pillars. It is a meeting hall constructed in 2012. Since there was not enough space in the gup’s office, some are working from the meeting hall.
Some four people are working from the vulnerable hall every day. The structure’s safety is a big concern, should there be an earthquake.
“There is a high risk from earthquake and landslide since several cracks are developed on the walls of the structure,” said Dechen Choden, from the Kuendrel Nyamley Tshogde in Monggar Gewog.
“The structure is not safe for us to work. However, as a temporary measure, I am thinking of shifting the Gewog Administrative Officer’s Office and Kuendrel Nyamley Tshogde’s Office in my office,” said Tenzin Wangchuk, the Monggar Gewog Gup.
Even today, important gewog meetings and advocacy programmes are organised in that hall.
The gup said loose soil and heavy rain caused the cracks to develop.
“After the cracks appeared on the walls, we had a meeting and agreed to allocate Nu 700,000 in this financial year to repair the structure,” the gup added.
The gewog administration constructed retaining walls worth nearly Nu 4 M last year below the affected building. And for now, that brought some respite to the people working there.
Sonam Tshering
