YEARENDER:

Gelephu last year saw the Drungkhag court issue judgment on one of the biggest corruption cases in the country that involved Gelephu Drungpa Pema Wangdi.

Although sentenced to 15 years in prison for charges of 20 cases of corruption, forgery, embezzlement, commission, omission, officials misconduct, bribery, solicitation, perjury, and abuse of privilege information, the drungpa appeal to higher court. The case is currently at Sarpang’s district court.

As it happens every year, Sarpang experienced a flood. Although less damage was caused to property, Gelephu-Zhemgang highway remained closed for several days with major roadblocks. The water detention pond below the airport burst and washed away portion of Gelephu-Assam highway.

Crop attack by elephants continued in Sarpang. Farmers in several gewogs, such as Samtenling, Chuzargang, Gelephu and Shershong spent sleepless nights guarding their crops. Elephant killed at least three cows and damaged several acre of paddy in Gelephu.

On the positive note, Sarpang also took a great leap towards agriculture food self-sufficiency. With a national mission to not leave any wetland fallow, the Farm Machinery Corporation Ltd. (FMCL) began large-scale commercial paddy farming in the dzongkhag. FMCL planted paddy in over 200 acres of private wetland at the fishery site in Gelephu. Shechamthang has a total of 22.9-acre area for 522 plots as per the local area plan. The town has 112 households with population of 629 people.

Nirmala Pokhrel | Tsirang