LG: Every dzongkhag will get a yenlag thromde (satellite town) each along with the dzongkhag thromde once the Parliament passes the motion for the same.

The motion will be presented in the National Assembly and will be forwarded to the National Council. Minister for Works and human settlement, Dorji Choden, said that yenlag thromde will be the biggest after dzongkhag thromde.

“Establishing yenlag thromdes is a big step,” she said, adding however that going for too many yenlag thromdes at a time would be too big a decision.

The constitution allows for more than one yenlag thromde in a dzongkhag.

“The government has decided that we should have one yenlag thromde for every dzongkhag,” said Dorji Choden.

Works and human settlement ministry has issued a guideline and the dzongkhags have already identified the yenlag thromdes. Boundary demarcation has also been completed.

“Some of the communities want to go into the boundaries and some don’t want,” said the minister, adding that democratic processes are sometimes difficult.

The government is in the process of preparing maps and documentations to be submitted to the Parliament.

Dorji Choden said that the preparation to establish the thromdes and yenlag thromdes has been going on for almost a year now. Amendment of the local government Act, 2008, abolished the classification system of thromde classes A and B.

She said that the ministry has worked with dzongkhags and other stakeholders to prepare the thromde and yenlag thromde boundaries.

“The latest development is that the government has taken a stand that we will have 20 dzongkhag thromdes as per the constitution,” she said.

According to the Election Commission of Bhutan (ECB), the number of constituencies within the thromdes will also have to be maintained at the lowest.  A thromde tshogde will have no more than 10 elected members.

Each constituency will be represented by a tshogpa, and each yenlag throm by a thuemi (representative). The number of constituencies in a thromde will depend on factors such as the population size, distance and the road connectivity.

The ECB said that it hopes elections can be called in the coming year in all the thromdes and gewogs of 20 dzongkhags. The ECB has been reminding the government about the requirement and importance to fulfil the constitutional requirement in respect to the local government.

Article 22 (2) of the constitution says that the country should have local governments in all the dzongkhags comprising of dzongkhag tshogdu, gewog tshogde and thromde tshogde.

By MB Subba

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