Neten Dorji | Trashiyangtse

Filled with potholes, Ramjar gewog connectivity (GC) road in Trashiyangtse is in need of repair but villagers are questioning who will do it.

With State Mining Corporation Limited (SMCL) trucks ferrying stone using the road along with the gewog residents, people claim the trucks damaged the road and SMCL should repair it. Some, however, blame the poor quality of blacktopping.

 The 17km GC road was constructed in 2010 and blacktopped in 2015.

 A resident, Dawa Chedup, said blacktopping the GC road benefitted them for few years but it was damaged after lorries ferrying stone for SMCL started plying. “It’s difficult in summer.”

 Another resident, Sherub Tenzin said that in the past about 10 trucks use the road, transporting load thrice a day from Bartsham to Wangringmo. “Before the trucks started plying, it was in good condition. It’s like a farm road now.”

 Villagers claim the road improved their life and brought them economic benefits, as they could easily transport their farm produces to Doksum town.

 They say either SMCL or the gewog should repair it soon.

 A bolero driver, Cheki said Department of Roads maintained the road earlier but they now heard it is handed over to the gewog. “We don’t see any labourers like we used to.”

 A villager, Lungpo, 57, said that during a public meeting, officials from SMCL promised to do maintenance work. “They also promised to deploy a vehicle and backhoe machine for road maintenance but nothing is happening here.”

 Ramjar Gup, Tenzin Wangda, said that after heavy vehicles started ferrying load since 2018, the road got damaged. “We are hopping for SMCL to re-do the blacktopping work as they promised.”

 He said in every public meeting, people are questioning the road condition. “The gewog administration decided to raise issue in dzongkhag tshogdu for road maintenance and the need to deploy labor at road site.”

 Meanwhile, officials from SMCL said that they are doing maintenance work whenever it was required. “We also have allocated budget to blacktop the road from Wamringmo till Zordung village in Bartsham gewog including 17km Ramjar GC road.” 

 Officials said that they hired machine and vehicle from local people to do the maintenance work.

Meanwhile, the issue was also discussed in dzongkhag tshogdu yesterday.

Trashiyangtse dzongdag, Thuje Yoenten, said that DoR has handover the GC road to the dzongkhag but they don’t have enough human resources and budget to do maintenance work. “We are worried about how dzongkhag would maintain the roads, as only Nu 44,000 are released per kilometre for a year.”