Development: Zhemgang’s yenlag throm, Panbang, is expecting the new plan for the town soon. Residents of the town are aware of the new town site that was identified at Tungademba.

Tungademba is some two kilometres from Panbang town towards Gomphu.

“In absence of town plan, we have not been able to carry out any business promotion works and it’s been quite long living in these structures,” a shopkeeper said.

The town is also deprived of many proper facilities like drinking water and waste management.

Ugyen Tshering, who owns a shop in Panbang town, said many of them are waiting for the town plan so that they can construct their own houses and enhance their businesses. “I heard people say that the town will be shifted to Tungademba, but nothing is happening,” he said.

Another shopkeeper said that Panbang gets cut off during the monsoon despite being connected by the Panbang-Nanglam and Gomphu-Panbang highways. “We do not have enough space to store food and other essential items. We are not allowed to construct any new structure,” he said.

Nado, who has been running a shop in Panbang town since 1982, still lives in a one-storey structure. He said that he will construct a house if government comes up with a concrete town plan. “We can extend and renovate our existing structure on the condition that we dismantle them as and when the government requires us to do so.”

Panbang’s officiating dungpa, Tshering Tobgay, said that the ministry of works and human settlement identified the new town site at Tungademba and the development works are expected to start soon.

Nima Wangdi | Panbang