Dechen Dolkar 

Opposition Leader Dorji Wangdi has written to Prime Minister Dr Lotay Tshering asking the government to reconsider its decision on doing away with the gaydrung’s post.

According to the OL, the government has breached the resolution of the National Assembly (NA) that was passed to retain the post of Gaydrung in 2019.

The OL Dorji Wangdi said that on January 16, 2019, NA passed a resolution to retain the post of Gaydrung under gewog administrations.

“As per voting records, all members of the ruling government including all members of the Cabinet had voted in favour of the motion,” the OL said.

He also said that during the extension of their tenure in April 2019, the government had committed to base any extension in future on a detailed study of the necessity of their services.

The House, he said, decided to retain the post of gaydrung and regularise as civil servants if circumstances were favourable.

Meanwhile, in 2019 the Cabinet has also extended the contract tenure of the gaydrung by three years until April 2 this year.

The Opposition Leader stated that subsequently a study on the relevance of gaydrungs in gewog administration was carried out, and among others, it had revealed that 93 percent of the population felt gaydrungs were critical, 89 percent were satisfied with their services and 76 percent of LG members felt that gewog administrative officers and accounts personnel could not substitute them.

“In deciding to discontinue the post, we feel the government has breached both the resolution of the NA and its subsequent commitment to gaydrungs,” the OL said.

The OL mentioned that it was extremely important that the government honour the resolution of the Parliament or report back and seek its reconsideration in case of any likely deviation from it.

Further, the Opposition urged the government to seriously look into their recent submissions on a reasonable extension of tenure and compensations.

The government decided to discontinue the post of gaydrungs permanently on April 6 after the Royal Civil Service Commission (RCSC) also rejected its proposal to recruit them on a consolidated contract under the civil service to retain the post.

The executive order of the government stated that despite numerous requests for extension, the decision was arrived at after deliberations among Cabinet members and consultation with relevant agencies like the home and culture affairs ministry and the RCSC.

Recently, 11 representatives of gaydrungs appealed to the government and the Opposition Party to extend their contract by a year or provide some cash compensation for retrenchment.

Meanwhile, one of the political observers said that the government has the authority to issue an executive order and the post of the gaydrung was on contract and has been extended already.

“Now the opposition is politicising the issues,” one of the observers said.

An official said that the government stands by its decision.