Thirsty gewog sees hope of water

7 February 2010

The drinking water shortage in Nangla Gewog in Panbang Dungkhag will become a thing of the past by June with works on water supply almost complete.

The water supply scheme will benefit some 64 households – 42 in Sonamthang village, 18 in Morangdut, and four in Pongling village.

Materials for the construction are supplied by the government under Rural Water Supply Scheme (RWSS) and households collect local materials like sand and stones and contribute labour.

According to Yeshey Chopyel, a technician for RWSS in Zhemgang, about Nu 1.5 million has been spent. He said many villages do not have a water source nearby. “The water source for Pongshing is three hours walk downhill from the village, and pumping water up will be costly,” he said.

There is shortage of drinking water in most of the villages in Pangbang Dungkhag. Cheki Wangchuk, a farmer from Sonamthang village, said the village had had drinking water shortage for the last 10 years. He said there had been many promises of water supply. But when they mobilised construction materials, the projects were delayed. He is happy that it is finally materialising.

“We walk for an hour to reach the nearest spring to fetch drinking water,” Tashi Tshering said, adding that it “hampered a lot of domestic works”.

Meanwhile, Tobgay from Thinleygang A, said last year there were talks about RWSS project in his village. “Villagers collected construction materials but the project was never implemented,” he said. Farmers lost all the sand to monsoon rains.

Dzongkhag officials said Thinleygang A is included in a 2011 project.

People from Tendudepma and Rigpati said they too had been facing drinking water shortage for the past few years

By Rabi C Dahal

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