Businessmen and women in Gola Bazaar in Sibsu, Samtse, are asking the government to collect taxes and recognise the bazaar as a town.
Residents here claim that their town is by far one of the oldest in the country. According to them, the town was established in the early 1950s.
The town is a commercial hub for the people of Biru, Tendu, Namgaychoeling, and Chargharey geogs. People from Sombeykha under Haa also come here once a week to sell farm produce and shop.
If anything, the town has thrived over the years. It has however remained unchanged with little or no development by way of new infrastructure and amenities.
Most of the businessmen operate from semi permanent structures. There are only two permanent buildings in the whole town.
The government planned to shift the town to Belboty, five kilometres from the present site, and people in Gola were not allowed to construct houses.
The government even discontinued collecting land taxes from 1993.
The plan however has remained just that. A plan.
Land owners said they have repeatedly appealed to the government to resume collecting land taxes.
“We are not asking the government to declare Gola as a town. Neither are we proposing to shift the town. We just want the land tax to be regularized,” said Norpen.
“We want the government to allow us renovate our houses. Till now, because of the plan to shift the town, they did not allow us even to repair our houses.”
Kinga, another resident, said “the government is now saying we have not paid land taxes from 1993. We have been paying the Business Income tax till now.”
In 2009, the business community and the residents of Gola Bazaar appealed to the Ministry of Works and Human Settlement. Soon after, a town planner from the ministry came to carry out a feasibility study. Since then, there has been no news.
There are about 50 shops and bars in Gola.
The Dungkhag office says so far there is no progress on the plan to shift the town.
