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Archery range still threatens lives

10 October 2009

People have raised concerns over unsafe bachos (archery ranges) across the country time and again in media and other fora. Injuries, deaths and damage to private properties have been reported, yet many unsafe bachos continue to exist.
The dzongkhag archery range in Haa is one of them. The bacho located near the dzongkhag administration office is just a metre below the main road which leads to the dzongkhag administration. The road is used by hundreds of people daily. Towards the north of the bacho is a taxi parking and in the south is the Haa town. The first building in the town is a few metres away from the bacho.
Fifteen people live in the building, which also houses the Bhutan Post office. Aum Wangchey, the house owner, said she requested the dzongkhag administration, verbally and in written, many times, to shift the bacho a few metres below towards the Haa chhu but to no avail. This year, the issue was put up to the Dzongkhag Yargay Tshogdue (DYT) and discussed with the Haa archery committee. “We have not been able to decide anything because shifting the bacho towards the river is also a threat to human life as there is a vegetable market on one end,” said Tshewang Penjor, the DYT Chairperson.
The possibility of shifting the archery range is small but safety measures will be improvised because the dzongkhag has only one bacho. The others are private, he added. Aum Wangchey disagreed and said vegetable sheds are located further away. The market opens only on Sundays and gets over by 11 am.
Since last year, the dzongkhag bacho was given on lease to a local businessman, Taugay, for seven years. As most of the tournaments in Haa are organised at the bacho, a lot of people come to practise to get used to the range before tournaments. People said that even people learning to use compound bows come to practise there, posing danger to the passersby and the residents nearby.
“This is the bacho where a lot of tournaments are held and the organisers are just concerned about the match, not our lives,” said Daw Tshering, Aum Wangchey’s neighbour.
Showing the arrow marks on the ladder, window panels and the wall, Aum Wangchey said during archery tournaments they had to virtually lock themselves indoors and could not attend to any household chores. She said that there was an instance when she and her family members were basking in the sun, and an arrow hit the ladders of her house. She has collected scores of arrows.
Mindu Zam, who lives in the same house with Aum Wangchey, said that over the years the number of tournaments has increased and so did the chances of misfires. “If they played once in a while we can keep ourselves and the children locked up but not every time,” she said.
Earlier, archery was played on traditional bows and the arrows did not cross the bacho but archers now use powerful compound bows which can easily reach their house, she said.
The dzongkhag had taken actions earlier. They raised the safety wall behind the target but residents nearby say this has not helped much. The bacho is believed to have existed since the time of the Third King. Haa has five bachos.

Haa archery rangePeople have raised concerns over unsafe bachos (archery ranges) across the country time and again in media and other fora. Injuries, deaths and damage to private properties have been reported, yet many unsafe bachos continue to exist.

The dzongkhag archery range in Haa is one of them. The bacho located near the dzongkhag administration office is just a metre below the main road which leads to the dzongkhag administration. The road is used by hundreds of people daily. Towards the north of the bacho is a taxi parking and in the south is the Haa town. The first building in the town is a few metres away from the bacho.

Fifteen people live in the building, which also houses the Bhutan Post office. Aum Wangchey, the house owner, said she requested the dzongkhag administration, verbally and in written, many times, to shift the bacho a few metres below towards the Haa chhu but to no avail. This year, the issue was put up to the Dzongkhag Yargay Tshogdue (DYT) and discussed with the Haa archery committee. “We have not been able to decide anything because shifting the bacho towards the river is also a threat to human life as there is a vegetable market on one end,” said Tshewang Penjor, the DYT Chairperson.

The possibility of shifting the archery range is small but safety measures will be improvised because the dzongkhag has only one bacho. The others are private, he added. Aum Wangchey disagreed and said vegetable sheds are located further away. The market opens only on Sundays and gets over by 11 am.

Since last year, the dzongkhag bacho was given on lease to a local businessman, Taugay, for seven years. As most of the tournaments in Haa are organised at the bacho, a lot of people come to practise to get used to the range before tournaments. People said that even people learning to use compound bows come to practise there, posing danger to the passersby and the residents nearby.

“This is the bacho where a lot of tournaments are held and the organisers are just concerned about the match, not our lives,” said Daw Tshering, Aum Wangchey’s neighbour.

Showing the arrow marks on the ladder, window panels and the wall, Aum Wangchey said during archery tournaments they had to virtually lock themselves indoors and could not attend to any household chores. She said that there was an instance when she and her family members were basking in the sun, and an arrow hit the ladders of her house. She has collected scores of arrows.

Mindu Zam, who lives in the same house with Aum Wangchey, said that over the years the number of tournaments has increased and so did the chances of misfires. “If they played once in a while we can keep ourselves and the children locked up but not every time,” she said.

Earlier, archery was played on traditional bows and the arrows did not cross the bacho but archers now use powerful compound bows which can easily reach their house, she said.

The dzongkhag had taken actions earlier. They raised the safety wall behind the target but residents nearby say this has not helped much. The bacho is believed to have existed since the time of the Third King. Haa has five bachos.

By Tandin Pem and Rabi C Dahal

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Comments

2 Responses to “Archery range still threatens lives”

  1. dorji gyaltshen on October 23rd, 2009 9:58 am

    yes every one think over it, Archery game is becoming in nonsense in our society, we are failing to do works in time and the worse thin is that we really dont respect the people who is passing near by the archery range, they have to wait hours, so we as a buddhist, or at least a human must think upon it instead of creating a nonsence in the society.,……

    somcell
    Germany..

  2. futuredirector on December 9th, 2009 1:03 am

    i don’t know what to say about Bachho but i hate those archers who never give shit to passerbys and keep on shouting at top of their voice, called archery language or porno-voice.

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