Druk Phuensum Tshogpa (DPT) president Pema Gyamtsho yesterday completed his visit to the Sombaykha constituency of Haa, the home dzongkhag of the PDP president, as part of the campaign for National Assembly elections.

It was his second visit to the dzongkhag in less than a week. Earlier on August 24, he was in the Bji-Kartsho-Uesu constituency to meet with the public and party supporters.

While in the Sombaykha  constituency, where the party has never won, the DPT president met with the people of the two gewogs of Sombaykha and Gakiling on August 27.

“I had very positive responses from the people at all the meetings I had. People are generally well aware of the importance of this year’s election and also well informed about national and local issues,” Pema Gyamtsho, who reached Dorokha yesterday, told Kuensel.

The DPT president said that the people who attended the meeting assured him that they would vote on the basis of the performance records and credibility of the parties.

“We (DPT) are confident that Sombaykha people will throw a surprise this time,” Pema Gyamtsho said.

During his Haa visit, Pema Gyamtsho also introduced Tshewang Rinzin, 41, and Sonam Tobgay, 27, as the candidates for Sombaykha and Bji-Kartsho-Uesu constituencies, respectively.

During his visit to Gakiling gewog, the people of Rangtsi village apprised the DPT president of the issues such as lack of health services in the village. The villagers said that they had to travel to Dorithasa BHU, some 20 kilometres away.

Pema Gyamtsho told the people that his party would consider constructing a BHU in the village considering the number of people.

He also promised a middle secondary school for the benefit the people of Gakiling and Sombaykha gewogs.

Students completing primary education in the two gewogs have to go to Haa for further studies. This, according to Pema Gyamtsho, entailed problems for both parents and children.

Pema Gyamtsho promised the people of two gewogs that DPT would ease access to timber, sand, stones and other materials for construction of houses. He also said that his government would address the drinking water problem in the villages.

While in Sombaykha gewog, Pema Gyamtsho took the opportunity to speak about BoIC, the establishment of which the party maintains was not in line with the law.

“We said that the government must not put their hands in what the private sector should be doing. The main function of banks is to provide loans and it should be left to them as they have the expertise and machinery to do so.”

The government, he said, could still provide loans at a 4 percent rate by providing subsidies to BDBL.

“Getting into the lending business is not a good precedent that the government has set as it might encourage political parties in future to offer loans at even lower rates to attract support and thereby distort the whole financial service sector. We also advised that this could open the doors for corruption,” he said.

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