Residents of Ramjar Gewog in Trashi Yangtse are pointing fingers at the State Mining Corporation Limited (SMCL) for damaging their Gewog Centre (GC) road. The corporation’s trucks travel via the GC road to ferry stones from its quarry site in Bartsham in Trashigang to a crushing plant in Trashi Yangtse.
About three to four trucks of the SMCL transport stones from the quarry site at Dzongthong Village in Bartsham Gewog to the crushing site at Dzungdi under Yalang Gewog in Trashi Yangtse occasionally.
Earlier, about 12 trucks used to do the same.
For this, they have to travel via the Ramjar GC road. Now, the people are blaming them for deteriorating their road, which is their pivotal connectivity.
Describing the condition of the road, one of the residents, Tashi Phuntsho, said, “Our road is damaged and is riddled with potholes. Though the SMCL repaired the potholes, they reappeared following the monsoon. Boleros can drive through the road. But the light vehicles face problems.”
Others also shared about the bad road condition, which is making their everyday travel nerve-racking.
“The road condition worsens during monsoon. It is riddled with potholes and our vehicles break down often and repairing cost is high,” added another resident named, Pema Namgay.
Apart from the poor condition of the road, residents are irked by the dust pollution along the road. The 17-kilometre GC road was blacktopped in 2015.
“The roadside is filled with dust and poses risk to our crops. If our crops get spoilt, we will have to worry for sustenance as they are our only source of income,” pointed out Tshering Dorji, who is also a resident of Ramjar Gewog.
The Ramjar Gewog Administration said they haven’t received any official complaint regarding the issue. However, some people have informally brought up the issue to them.
“The mining corporation has been restoring the stretch as and when damaged. However, they are not sprinkling the water using tanker to curb the dust pollution,” Ramjar Gup Phurpa Gyeltshen said.
The gup has asked the SMCL to arrange a tanker to mitigate dust pollution and also blacktop the GC road.
The SMCL has agreed to this. The corporation said they have kept a separate budget to execute the blacktopping works after the completion of the stone quarry project.
The stone extraction project began in 2017 and is marked for closure by 2027.
It was set up to mainly supply stone aggregates and sand for the Kholongchhu Hydropower Project.
Sonam Darjay, Trashi Yangtse
Edited by Pema Lhaden
