In most of the gewogs, the Gewog Administration Office and the Renewable Natural Resources (RNR) Extension Centre are located in close proximity to each other. But this is not the case in Tsamang Gewog in Monggar.
The two offices in Tsamang are about 10 kilometres apart from each other.
The RNR Extension Centre is located in Thuenmong_Tokari Chiwog, while the gewog office lies at Banjar Chiwog.
The people in the gewog want the two offices to be located in the same place and not apart.
They say it would save them time and cost as they will not have to shuttle back and forth between the two offices when they have to avail themselves of forestry, agricultural and livestock related services.
Most importantly, they said, bringing the two offices together physically would aid in gewog development works.
“There is no doubt the public would benefit and so would the gewog and RNR staff,” Sithar Dorji, a villager from Baanjar said.
“Since they have to work together closely, it makes sense to have the two offices located in the same premises.”
Naksila, a villager from Gangtho, echoed the same feeling. “The RNR office was constructed earlier than the gewog office,” he recalls.
“I don’t know why they did not construct the two offices in the same place. It’s highly inconvenient for us when we have official works that require us to visit both the offices.”
The local leaders as well as the RNR extension staff agreed they would be able to work together better if they are within an easy reach of each other.
The issue was also raised when the prime minister visited Monggar last year, but the people did not get a clear response.