Despite being located next to the town, Phuentshogling Gewog in Chhukha is yet to reap the benefit of better amenities. The gewog centre road is in dire need of maintenance. The residents of the gewog have to worry every monsoon as the road becomes unusable.
The poor condition of the gewog centre road, according to locals, is a hindrance to the overall development of the community. Although the farmers there can grow all kinds of crops, reaching the produce to the town is a challenge. One has to drive through sloppy, dusty and bumpy farm road to reach the gewog centre.
The condition of the road becomes poor during the monsoon. Without a designated caretaker, currently, the residents are maintaining the road once every month.
“Monsoon is approaching and there is no one to maintain the road here. We are working on it. We have been maintaining the road here for four years now. We do not know whose responsibility it is to maintain the road here,” said Man Prasad, a resident of Pachhu under Phuentshogling Gewog.
“The poor road condition is an issue here. Actually, all kinds of cash crop grow here. But, it is difficult to take our produce to the market. It has been nearly five years now since I was involved in maintaining the road here,” added a 60-year-old Dorji Dema who lives alone at Pachhu.
Besides Phuentshogling, the road connects three other gewogs with the town.
Sukh Bdr Tamang from Loggchina Gewog said, “People of Loggchina also use the same road. The road condition becomes worse in summer. We have to carry loads but the road is not usable. It is really difficult without a better road network.”
Currently, it takes the commuters three hours to reach Loggchina from Phuentshogling town. It will only take about an hour if the road condition was better.
According to gewog officials, the department of roads didn’t hand over the road to the gewog yet due to a dispute between the department and the contractor regarding the road.
“We have been trying our best. We have been constantly informing the dzongkhag regarding the difficulty here. Everyone knows that vehicles cannot ply through the gewog centre road in summer. Since there is a dispute between the department of roads and the contractor regarding the road, the case is in court. The road has been left as it is since then,” said Birkha Bdr Rai, the Phuentshogling Gup.
He added that the construction firm has appealed to the high court. The Department of Roads also said the geology of the area is not feasible for road construction.
Today, there is an alternative route to reach Phuentshogling Gewog during monsoon which the villagers say is longer and time consuming adding nothing has been done to maintain or develop it to date.
Sonam Penjor, Phuentshogling
