Residents of Nabbar-Philooma chiwog under Orong Gewog in Samdrup Jongkhar are all smiles as their wait for a farm road is over. The chiwog was connected with a farm road a month ago and the locals are already feeling the benefit. Nabbar-Philooma chiwog is one of the most remote chiwogs in Samdrup Jongkhar dzongkhag.
Without a farm road connectivity, Kota Tshering would have been carrying stones and sand for the construction of his house from the nearest road point. Thanks to the new farm road, he can now transport materials to his construction site at once.
“If people carry, it will take two or three days to reach here. But with the road connectivity, it now takes about 15 minutes. We can bring all the materials to the vehicle. In the past, we used horses to carry things. Horses could not carry much but a vehicle can easily make more than three trips,” said Kota Tshering.
“Before we had to carry a patient till Tercheri, now we just have to make a call for an ambulance and it’s there within a few minutes. Having a farm road has benefited us a lot,” added Kinga Tashi, another resident of the chiwog.
While the farm road has brought immense benefits to the residents, villagers are worried they may not be able to use the farm road during monsoon season. This is because there is no bridge over the Gamtshelo River. They said when it rains, the river gets swollen making it impossible to cross.
“These days, it’s easier for the vehicles to cross the river. But it’s a problem when the monsoon season starts and the river swells. While the farm road has benefited us immensely, we hope the government would build a bridge,” added Kota Tshering.
“Without a bridge, I think we won’t be able to use the farm road during monsoon. The river will get big and the vehicles will be not able to cross. We would be grateful if we get a bridge,” said Kinga Tashi, a resident of the chiwog.
As of now, the Orong Gewog Administration has not allocated any budget for the bridge construction over the Gamtshelo River.
“Farm road was connected this year and we need bridge too. But we had only budgeted for the road construction. Having a bridge will benefit villagers a lot. But the gewog does not have a budget to construct a bridge. We are looking for a budget from the dzongkhag administration and the government,” added Jigme, the Orong Gup.
The 15-kilometre farm road was constructed at a cost of about Nu 110 M.
Kinley Wangchuk, Samdrup Jongkhar
