For some remote villages across the country, access to safe and adequate drinking water is still a farfetched dream even to this day. Richenzor and Menchu Gonpa villages of Norbugang Gewog in Pema Gatshel are two such communities that have been struggling with a scarcity of safe and sufficient drinking water for years. Their wait for safe drinking water continues as the work to construct the water pump failed to complete on time.
Residents of Menchu Gonpa and Rinchenzor could have had water running in the taps near their homes by last year had it not been for the delayed water pump construction project.
The contractor failed to complete the water pump construction works on time. The villagers have been managing by installing a water pump below their village. They store the water in barrels.
However, there is a scarcity of water during the dry season as the source dries up.
The new water pump is being constructed above the village drawing water from another source.
Meanwhile, as they wait for the water pump construction to complete, residents are planning to construct water taps near their homes. They are waiting to receive the sand and cement required to construct taps.
Cheda, a resident of Rinchenzor said, “If they don’t supply materials today, we won’t get time to construct in summer due to farming works. Even if they supply water, it will waste without taps.”
Choten Zangmo, another resident of Rinchenzor said, “It would be better if they can supply soon. If not, we will get busy with our farm work very soon which could leave us with a severe problem of water shortage.”
“If they provide us with materials such as cement and sand, we can construct and ready water taps so that we have water running in our homes as soon as the main distribution work completes,” said Samdrup Dorji, a resident of Menchu Gonpa.
The Nganglam Dungkhag Engineering Sector stated that the work has been delayed as they had to terminate the previous contract after the contractor failed to complete the works on time. Consequently, the remaining work was awarded to the current contractor.
Due to some personal issues, the contractor was unable to deliver sand and cement for the residents.
However, the Dungkhag Engineering Sector assured that the materials required for water tap construction would be supplied within a week and that the water pump construction work would be completed by the end of March. The project has been allocated Nu 10 M and will benefit more than 50 households in Rinchenzor and Menchu Gongpa villages.
Thinley Dorji, Pema Gatshel
Edited by Phub Gyem
