Visitors to Aja Ney in Monggar say a motorable bridge over Sherichu is necessary for the convenience of the travellers. A wooden bridge was constructed in 2019 after a flash flood washed away the suspension bridge. Despite the Shermung Gewog Administration’s maintenance works last year, residents say the bridge remains in poor condition.
If you want to visit Aja Ney, you have to cross a bridge over Sherichhu at Khadra.
However, crossing the river is becoming risky as the timber used for constructing the bridge is already decaying. This has rendered the bridge unstable.
300 villagers of Aja, Yarab, Thiling and Throm villages use the bridge almost on a daily basis.
“If we don’t have a bridge over the river, let alone vehicles, even people cannot cross it. By this summer, people living in Yarab and Thramo villages will not be able to travel beyond the village,” said Tenzin, a resident.
“As Aja Ney is a sacred place, people from various districts use this bridge to visit it. Lack of a proper bridge over the river is the biggest problem for us,” said Sherub Phuntsho, another resident.
“If this bridge collapses, people living on either side of it will not be able to cross the river,” said Dorji Wangdi, a resident from Thramo village.
“We have to risk our lives to cross the bridge,” said Kinley Seldon from Aja village.
According to local leaders, the district engineer also conducted a survey to construct the bridge last year. The gewog administration has proposed for budget to construct the bridge in the 13th Five Year Plan.
“The gup asked me to carry out the measurements and the district engineer also visited the site and surveyed it,” said Norbu, Soenakhar_Yarab Tshogpa.
“We planned to construct the bridge from the gewog’s budget but as the work entails a huge budget, we were not able to construct it. Now, we are planning to spend half the amount from the gewog budget and we have submitted a proposal to the Dzongda requesting half of the budget to purchase the bridge’s beam. We have included it in the 13th Five Year Plan but we will have to wait about 2 to 3 years again and we are running out of time,” said Dorji, the Shermung Gup.
The total budget required to construct the new bridge is estimated to be around Nu 3.5 M.
Karma Wangdi
Edited by Kipchu
