Thromde map to be tabled in the Parliament again

Parliament: The Paro dzongkhag thromde map is set to change again. The dzongkhag tshogdu (DT) will submit to the government a new thromde map, which will be tabled in the upcoming Parliament session.

The dzongkhag administration coordinated a consultation meeting on Thursday in Hoongrel gewog, where according to the local leaders, 90 percent of the affected people said they do not want to be in the thromde.

The meeting was held following a directive from the works and human settlement ministry. The ministry had directed the dzongkhag administration to ask people whether they want to go by the current boundary or the one endorsed by the DT.

According to the local leaders, the DT had prepared its own map of the thromde. But the works and human settlement ministry later prepared its own map, pulling three chiwogs of Hoongrel gewog into the thromde boundary.

Hoongrel gup Sangay said the participants of the consultation meeting preferred to go by the map endorsed by the DT. “If the Parliament endorses the map prepared by the DT, Hoongrel gewog will get back the three chiwogs,” he said.

The joint sitting of the Parliament last year resolved that the government in consultation with the Paro dzongkhag tshogdu would submit the issues pertaining to thromde for re-deliberation in the upcoming session.

With the three chiwogs having lost to the thromde, the gewog was reduced to two chiwogs comprising about 160 people only. “How can there be a gewog with just two chiwogs? That will be against the law,” he said.

The other affected gewog, Wangchang, is also expected to hold public consultation after the Paro tshechu.

He said the dzongkhag administration received the directive to hold public consultation a few days back. The report from the consultation meeting will be submitted to the government.

Wangchang gup Thinley Dorji said that the directive asked the DT to finalize the issue before the summer session.

Paro DT had accused the government for not consulting them during the demarcation of the thromde boundary. Local leaders from Paro dzongkhag last year wrote to the National Assembly Speaker about their unhappiness in being clubbed with the dzongkhag thromde.

Backed by the opposition members, the local government last year requested the Speaker and the Prime Minister to redraw the boundary, which was endorsed during the 5th fifth session. It was claimed that about 500 acres of paddy would be lost to the thromde if the parliament did not reverse its decision.

The local leaders claim that about 500 acres of wetland have fallen in the thromde. They say that the affected people are dependent on agriculture and that the inclusion of their land in the thromde would affect farmers’ livelihood.

MB Subba