Kelzang Wangchuk | Samdrupjongkhar

Farmers of Samdrupchoeling drungkhag in Samdrupjongkhar are busy cultivating paddy except Krishna Bdr Kami. He can only watch his neighbours work this year.

He lost his paddy fields to the recent rain and flash flood.

The small stream near the village swelled due to the heavy rain on the night of June 17 and flooded destroying about two acres of his paddy fields.

Krishna Bdr Kami, 42, from Sermothang in Phuentshothang gewog, said that the stream could flood again if it rains. “We cannot even divert the water because there is a Bhutan Power Corporation’s (BPC) housing colony below our village.”  

That is the only paddy field that his family has. “I’m worried about my family because all of us depend on it. It would help me if the concerned authorities could give me a land replacement,” Krishna Bdr Kami said. His family has 17 members.

The flood also destroyed the paddy fields of more than 10 households in the village.  

The victims said their fields were left partially submerged but they were cultivating paddy. They reported the matter to the gewog administration.  

They said the officials from the gewog and drungkhag visited the site for the assessment. “Since paddy is our main source of income, we are hoping for a positive response from the concerned authorities,” one of the victims said.

Meanwhile, the Phuentshothang Gup, Jamyang Gyeltshen, said that the gewog had submitted the reports to the drungkhag administration for the land replacement yesterday. 

“But we cannot say whether they will get a land replacement and how long it would take,” he said.