More than 30 truckers transporting goods from Sorchen in Chhukha to eastern districts are stranded at Namling block along the Bumthang-Monggar highway for over a week now. As they wait for the road to reopen, essential supplies in some eastern districts are running low.
While most of the stranded travellers have moved on taking the Panbang-Nganglam detour, these truckers stayed as the detour would mean extra expenses. They are transporting grocery items, vegetables and construction materials to eastern districts.
“If we travel via Panbang, we would incur a loss of an additional 30,000 to 40,000 ngultrum. Since the vehicle owners refused to provide the additional fare, we are forced to remain here,” said Nima, a trucker.
To survive the cold, they have built this temporary shed. However, as the clearing work drags on, their worry about the cold takes the backseat as their stock starts running low.
“I have been stranded here for the last six days. I bought little rations along the way thinking that the roadblock might be cleared within a few days. But if the clearing work gets delayed further, we would be facing a ration shortage,” said a driver.
“All the drivers are facing a lot of difficulties here. We have to sleep inside our vehicles. We used to eat and also buy our ration from the canteen here, but now we have finished what money we had. The rain has hampered the clearing work and we don’t know where to raise our concerns,” added another.
Meanwhile, as the lone vegetable supplier of Monggar is also stuck in the block, the Monggar vegetable market has been facing a shortage of some vegetables since last week.
“There has been tomato and onion shortage for over a week now,” a vendor said.
“Customers come asking for tomato and onion but as there is no stock, we can’t do anything,” added another.
Some grocery owners in Monggar are also worried that their stock will run out if the road remains blocked for more days.
According to the chief engineer of the department of roads in Lingmethang, the rain and continuous falling of boulders are hampering the clearing works. The office could not give a definite date to reopen the road. The highway remained closed since Wednesday, last week due to a massive landslide.
Sonam Tshering, Monggar
Edited by Sonam
