The realignment is expected to prevent villages and a school from being cut off every year 

Infrastructure: The people of Taksha and Silli villages will no longer have to worry about repeatedly clearing the only farm road connecting it with other places in Wangdue as the gewog is planning to re-align the farm road to avoid a slide zone.

One of the longest farm roads in Wangdue, the 23km Taksha-Silli farm road is usually blocked for months especially during the monsoon cutting off the villages. Gewog leaders had raised the issue at several meetings and dzongkhag tshogdus.

Funding has finally been secured from the Small Development Projects of the Government of India, to realign 2.8km of the farm road. The work has already been awarded to a contractor and is expected to start soon.

The realignment will bypass the landslide prone stretch and will fix the problem, said Desang Tshering, administration officer with Daga gewog.

He said funding would cover the construction cost of two small bridges that will be constructed along with the re-alignment and other permanent works on the farm road.

Officials said that every year the gewog has to bear costs in keeping the road clear. However, most of the time the gewog is left with no choice but to leave a block uncleared because of lack of budget.

When the farm road remains blocked for months, the Taksha primary school is affected the most. Last year even school teachers had to clear the farm road as it was blocked at 25 locations.

The primary school has around 136 students, of which 70 were boarders and the rest were provided breakfast and lunch by the school. The students are from far-flung villages and mostly come from financially disadvantaged families.

Sometimes the school and teachers run short of rations, said gewog officials. This required the school to borrow rations from nearby communities.

Villagers also volunteer and help carry school rations from the road point at Taksha on the Tsirang-Wangdue highway till the school.

Dawa Gyelmo |  Wangdue