Nim Dorji | Bumthang

The Druk Nyamrup Tshogpa’s president, Prime Minister Dr Lotay Tshering, who is in Bumthang for the second time campaigning for Chhoekhor-Tang bye-election, assured voters that all the avowed intents of the party’s candidate can and will be fulfilled.

The president yesterday assured the people of upper Chhoekhor that the party’s pledge of blacktopping roads and recruiting four specialists will be fulfilled. However, he steered clear of making new pledges to the constituents.

“If I fail to recruit the specialists and blacktop the road, I cannot continue my responsibilities for the next three years. It will be like I have lied to you all,” he said, adding that there is budget enough to fulfill both the pledges.

“The specialists will be recruited at the earliest. We have enough in the country. Some are being trained at JDWNRH. If we can recruit 21 at a time from Bangladesh, we can bring 5 to 10 any time as per our need.”

On the pledge of the mobile tower, hinting at what the opposition leader told people, he said that it should have been there a long ago if it was easy. Telecom operators, he said, would not invest where there is no business. “They will not spend 20-30 million for a few users. They will come to the government for subsidies and we will provide.”

Dr Lotay Tshering said that the government would be spending around Nu 10B for the base course of about 12,000 farm roads in the country from the capital budget. “All the hospitals in the country will get four specialists, but we cannot deploy them all at a time. The small dzongkhags with less population will take a few years, but for Bumthang, since I am asking for support, I have to answer that.”

Stressing on what the representative from the constituency being the ruling government could do, the president said that while authority of plan and development activities are in the hands of the government, the member in the opposition will spend the rest three years participating in Parliament process.

“In this bye-election if the people can think and help the candidate representing the government, it will be an example of  how people voting for ruling government’s candidate could benefit from the government.”

The president also assured that most of the pledges would be fulfilled in the next three years. “Some are going around saying that the government will not fulfill its pledges, forget making new pledges. The pledges are for five years and we still have three more years,” he said.

“Some pledges are already fulfilled and we are working on the others. If we fail to fulfill by 2023, you all can question us.”

Meanwhile, the president will campaign in lower Chhoekhor with the candidate, Dawa, today.