NGAWANG JAMPHEL | Thimphu
Dechhenling gewog under Pemagatshel dzongkhag had been connected with a road and other amenities and communities have benefited a lot from the road.
However, not all the villages under the gewog have been reaping the benefits of this new development. Until now, Relekpo under Goishing-Ridzommo chiwog had no access to a road.
Finally, the construction of the 3.2 km farm road from Ngorbali to Relekpo began last month. The farm road will be constructed at a cost of Nu 2.7 million and is being executed by Tak Seng Construction which is scheduled to complete in five months.
Dechhenling Gup Jimba Phuntshok shared that the road construction will benefit more than 60 households of Rezimo Chiwog.
He said, unlike in the past, the people of Relekpo should no longer walk for hours to visit Nganglam town, the nearest town to the village.
Having put all machinery and equipment in the place, the proprietor of Tak Seng Construction said that the works will be completed before the stipulated time.
Orange is one of the main sources of income for the people of the community of Relekpo. But without a road connection, people have to carry their cash crops to the nearby road which makes it inconvenient and troublesome.
The Tshogpa of Relekpo, Thungsi Norbu, said that road connectivity will greatly ease the lives of the villagers and help to improve the local economy. He said it will immensely benefit people to ferry their oranges and other agricultural products to Nganglam and other border towns.
The farmers of the village depend on agriculture and oranges as their main cash crop. The farm road will help them in different ways according to Tshogpa. “Until now people had to walk about 20-30 minutes to the road point crossing the river 6-7 times. All these difficulties will be eased,” he said.
The other benefit of constructing the road, according to the chiwog tshogpa, is that it will be convenient and cheaper to collect gravel, boulders, and sand for construction as the road runs just next to a river.
Other scopes of road connectivity, the tshogpa shared that chiwogs can connect with other nearby chiwogs like Yangma Lashing and Kerung. “In the future, the road will also be connected to Samdrup Jongkhar, the eastern business hub.”
A villager said that while farmers grow a variety of vegetables, they cannot sell them given that it is difficult to carry their farm produce on their bareback all the way to the markets.
Another farmer shared that the people of the village will no longer have to suffer like before. “Now, farmers can take their agricultural products to the market via the new road which will greatly enhance their income.”