Chhimi Dema  

With incessant rain, Lhamoidzingkha drungkhag has been cut off from other parts of the country in the past few days. This has been the situation the residents face every monsoon.

However, Works and Human Settlement Minister, Dorji Tshering, said the three gewogs of the drungkhag can travel without any inconvenience once the construction of the Sunkosh and Lhamoidzingkha river embankments is complete. The ministry has plans to construct the embankment.

Lyonpo, during the National Assembly Question Hour session yesterday, said that experts have studied and mapped the area for embankment construction. The embankment prevents the river from overflowing.

Lhamoidzingkha-Tashiding Member of Parliament (MP) Hemant Gurung said that Lhamoidzingkha drungkhag is located between two rivers, Sunkosh and Lhamoidzingkha rivers.

He said: “With the arrival of monsoon, the swollen Sunkosh river pose threat to the people of Lhamoizingkha Yenlag Throm, Hawajorji, and Kuendrelthang.”

In addition, Hemant Gurung said, that the Lhamoidzingkha river flooded villages before and the same threat continues today.  “Each year, people are losing part of their land and have to live under constant threat [of flooding].”

Lyonpo Dorji Tshering said that the government in the past five years invested Nu 100 million in the construction of the Sunkosh river embankment.

He said that Google Earth shows that in recent years the river has deviated from the drungkhag to its course a decade ago.

“This is attributed to the embankment works,” he said.

Lyonpo said that the interested individuals were urged to start stone dredging but they did not see dredging as economically viable in the Lhamoidzingkha river.

“Hence the government prepared detailed engineering and drawings to construct embankments along the river, which would be implemented soon,” he said.