Power Minister treks to remote villages in Dzongu, meets and interacts

WANGCHUK BHUTIA
MANGAN, 09 Dec: In an expressed move to inspect whether government schemes were being provided to stakeholders in the villagers effectively or not, Power Minister Sonam Gyatso Lepcha trekked through remote villages of Lower Dzongu on 08 and 09 December. Mr. Lepcha is also the Dzongu area MLA and was accompanied on his tour by the panchayats and zilla members of Dzongu constituency. The march started from Ramphak Khola near Lingee right on the border of North and South Sikkim. The inspection tour began with prayers by a Bongthing.
The Minister visited Rumdon, Podom and Lingtyang villages of Lum ward on the first day and met and interacted with the villagers enquiring after their problems.
Here he was accompanied by the ward panchayat, Tshering Gyatso Lepcha, and the public placed a demand petition seeking the construction of an RCC Bridge at Rumchit and Rangkun Khola, construction of a road to Lingtyang, construction of community water tank at Lum village and provision of drinking water supply from Rangkun Khola to Lingtyang village.
While addressing the villagers at Lingtyang, the Minister informed that this visit was essentially to remind the newly elected panchayats of the hard work expected from them. He further informed that the under construction road till Lum village will be cleared soon. He stressed that it is not easy to bring a road to the Rumdon and Podom villages due to the sheer cliff and inaccessible locations. He urged the people to work hard to bring the road at these villages. A Lepcha traditional cultural programme was presented in his honor.
On the second day of the tour, the Minister trekked via Lingtyang to Sangtok and Sagyong villages where he interacted with the people at Sagyong. Here, the Minister also inaugurated the newly constructed hostel of Repbum English School accompanied by ward panchayat Topgay Lepcha.
The Zilla member Chedup Lepcha welcomed the gathering and also presented a demand petition on behalf of the people relating to the reconstruction of Sagyong monastery and repair of damages caused by last year’s earthquake and flash-flood of earlier this year. The people here also complained over the delay in the road cutting from Gor to Sagyong village which are hampering commuters during monsoons.
During his visit, the Minister also inspected the under construction CMRHM and REDRH pucca houses in the area.
Similarly, the people of Sangtok ward along with their ward panchayat, Lhamzay Lepcha also placed a demand letter seeking construction of a jeepable road from Pheedang to Middle Sangtok and re-construction of the Sangtok monastery.
The people of Gor ward, led by their panchayat Chung Chung Lepcha also complained about the delay in blacktopping of the Pheedang to Gor School road.  The minister also inspected the under construction road between Gor and Sagyong.
Later, while speaking to NOW!, the Minister said that the main purpose of his visit was to know whether the govt schemes were being reaching these villages properly or not and also to meet the newly elected panchayats and zillas of Dzongu in the areas of their work and to visit these most inaccessible areas where there is no road connectivity. The effort is to inspire the panchayats to work hard, he said, adding, “I am very impressed that schemes under horticulture and KVK are being implemented properly in these villages with the involvement of the officials”.