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Bhutan Development |
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Trashigang:
Kangpara to get connected
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| After
more than 10 years of talk Kangpara gewog, on the southern tip of Trashigang
dzongkhag, may finally get a feeder road.
The
road department has included a 33-kilometre feeder road from Kharungla
to Kangpara in the on-going rural access programme of building roads to
villages. |
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Development
Bank was kept for the Kharungla-Kangpara feeder road.
According
to the project manager, C K Pradhan, the road was tentatively scheduled
to start some time in August 2007.
å"The
feasibility study has been carried out and data of the detailed survey
of up to seven kilometres has been completed," he said. "The works will
be awarded in two phases." The project manager said that to start the first
phase it would require a detailed survey of at least 17-kilometres.
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foottrail
bridge near Gasa
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Kangpara
was selected based on factors like remoteness of the community, benefits
the road would bring to the community and priority ranking, according to
the department's Road Master Plan.
"Kangpara
was actually in priority 'B' but since the funds are already available,
we are taking it up," he said. The road would benefit an estimated 249
households in the gewog, which will pass through about six villages.
While
the feasibility study was conducted in association with consultants based
in Delhi, the works would be carried out based on national competitive
bidding procedures.
"The
people are taking about two to three days journey to reach the highway
at the moment, but with the completion of the road, it will be only about
half a day's walk," he said.
Excluding
remote Merak and Sakten gewogs in the north Kangpara would be the last
gewog in Trashigang dzongkhag to get a feeder road.
According
to the dzongkhag officials, most of the 15 gewogs in the dzongkhag had
feeder roads by the first and second year of the Ninth Plan. Most were
built with fund support from the World Bank.
Construction
of a 10-kilometre farm road is going on in Lumang gewog with support from
the KR II grant.
The
first phase of construction of the feeder road to Udzorong gewog was recently
completed and the second phase is to be taken up in the coming fiscal year.
An eight-kilometre farm road from Pam to Yonphula will also be taken up
in the coming fiscal year.
According
to Kangpara gup Chempa Dorji, in 1980s, people from six villages in Kangpara
and Thrimshing gewogs had voluntarily cleared a route, from Phekpari to
lower Kangpara, broad enough for a power tiller. "But maintenance had become
a problem and not many could use it," he said.
He
said that the lack of a road made it difficult to market Kangpara gewog's
flourishing agricultural practices and skills in woodwork and other arts.
"The
walking distance has discouraged many prospering skilled artisans. It is
also provoking the younger generation in the village to leave for towns,"
said Chempa Dorji.
Trashigang
dzongda Minjur Dorji said the place had a huge potential and a road was
critical for its socio-economic development.
"Access
to rural communities also play a vital role for the 2008 election," he
said, adding that the government had conducted surveys long ago, but construction
was held up because of lack of resources.
Meanwhile,
with all the infrastructures in place, Kangpara will receive electricity
supply starting next month.
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Kangpara,
the footprint
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| Kangpara
was originally named Kangpar meaning footprint. The goenpa in Kangpar has
the stone footprints of the Buddha, believed to have been carved by Dupthop
Dongwa Rinchen who meditated at the goenpa (hermitage) more than a century
ago. According to village elders Dupthop Dongwa Rinchen went on pilgrimage
to Bodh Gaya, India. On his return he had brought along the prints of Lord
Buddha's feet on a cloth, which he carved on a stone in the goenpa. It
is believed that Dupthop Dongwa Rinchen did this to bless those people
who could not afford to travel to India. It is now considered one of the
relics of the goenpa along with the walking sticks and carving stones belonging
to the Dupthop. |
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The 341.9 square kilometre gewog is bordered by Merak,
Thrimshing, Khaling, and Shongphu gewogs in Trashigang and Gomdar and Shingkhar
Lauri gewogs in Samdrup Jongkhar dzongkhag. It consists of about 17 villages
with 406 households and with a population of more than 2,200 people.
| Contributed
by Kesang Dema, KUENSEL, Bhutan's National Newspaper, 2006 |
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