Local leaders of Silambi and Gongdu Gewogs in Monggar proposed the requirement of a Dungpa and some additional staff to man the Weringla Dungkhag Administration during the recent Dzongkhag Tshogdu meeting. The dungkhag office has been functioning without a Dungpa after the last Dungpa was transferred to Wamrong Dungkhag more than two years ago.
While the construction of a new Weringla Dungkhag Administrative Office is gaining pace, residents are unsure about when the new Dungpa will be posted to the office. Besides not having a Dungpa, the dungkhag office is acutely understaffed.
Today, the office is run by an officiating Dungpa, who also works as a District Agriculture Officer, and three supporting staff. It is temporarily housed in a single-storey residence near the new Dungkhag office construction site.
Due to these shortcomings, people said services are not effective.
“It has been almost three years since we don’t have a Dungpa. Although we have an officiating Dungpa, he doesn’t stay here much since he has other responsibilities at the district administration. So, it is as good as not having a Dungpa here,” complains one of the residents in Weringla, Tshering.
Since Gongdu and Silambi Gewogs fall under the jurisdiction of Weringla Dungkhag, gups of the two gewogs raised the issue in the recent DT sitting. They said a new dungkhag office is being constructed spending a huge amount of public funds. However, the office looks deserted without a Dungpa and other staff.
The responsibility of a Dungpa is to coordinate, supervise, and monitor the developmental programmes under various sectors in the dungkhag. That aside, a Drungpa is tasked with ensuring the timely submission of the dungkhag’s development reports to the district.
He/She has to also assist the Dzongda in preparing the Dzongkhag Five-Year-Plan.
Therefore, the local leaders in Monggar said Weringla Dungkhag urgently needs a Dungpa.
“We heard rumours that the Dungkhag office will be closed soon, though we haven’t received anything officially. Since people are unhappy, we proposed for a need of Dungpa and Dungkhag office in the recent Dzongkhag Tshogdu,” said Silambi Gup Dorji Wangchuk.
For the residents too, the justifications for requiring a Dungpa to administer the dungkhag office are similar.
“We don’t know if a new Dungpa will be posted here or not. But, for us, having a Dungpa will be of great help while seeking land-related services and many other public services from the office.”
But the house had to drop the proposal since only eight of the 35 members of the house supported it.
According to the Leadership and Talent Division under RCSC, the post of a Dungpa is P1 level, which is recruited through open competition among the civil servants.
However, this system has been kept on hold due to the ongoing reforms in the civil service.
Since, the home ministry, as a parent organisation, can announce vacancies for the post of Dungpas based on priority needs, it announced the same for the post of Weringla Dungkhag this February.
However, no one applied and the ministry says the reason could be its remote location. Also, citing the reshuffling of the civil service still underway, the ministry has no plans to announce the vacancy in the near future.
Weringla Dungkhag was established in 2005 to foster socio-economic development in Gongdu and Silambi Gewogs, which are the farthest gewogs from the headquarters (district administration) in Monggar.
These two gewogs are more than 100 kilometres from the district administration.
Update on the construction of the new Dungkhag office in Weringla
The dungkhag office structure is being rebuilt from the scratch in the same place where the old one existed.
The construction began in December 2020. Although COVID-19 slowed the progress, it is finally gaining pace and targeting completion this November.
According to our Monggar correspondent, the new office is being constructed to provide effective services to more than 6,000 people of Gongdu and Silambi gewogs.
Sonam Tshering, Monggar
Edited by Pema Lhaden
