Wednesday, May 8, 2013

Ringhim Monastery completes phase-1 of reconstruction, seeks Rs. 2 cr more to complete process

MANGAN, 05 May: Upon completion of phase-I of the reconstruction of Ringhim Monastery damaged by the 18 September earthquake, the Ringhim Gumpa Committee convened a special meeting at the monastery yesterday to table the utilisation details of the Rs. 1 crore released to it by the State Government as the first instalment of the reconstruction process. The well attended meeting which was open to the public was chaired by the Lachen-Mangan MLA, Tshering Wangdi Lepcha, and was also attended by former DC [North], TN Kazi, SDM Mangan, PW Lepcha, former Zilla Adhakshya Lobzang Tenzing, representatives of the monk body headed by Acharya Sherap Rinzing along with invited monks, members of the Mangan Nagar Panchayat headed by president Karma Jigdel Bhutia, panchayat and zilla members, Gumpa committee and the local residents.
The committee also placed a requisition for another Rs. 2 crores for completion of the monastery. The architectural design of the new monastery includes earthquake resistant features.
While presenting the detailed expenditure report, Mr. Lobzang Tenzing, who is also the advisor to the Gumpa Committee, informed that while Rs. 70 lakh was used for procuring construction material, Rs. 10 lakh went towards site development, Rs. 3 lakh to architects and survey, Rs. 11 lakh was expended on labour payment and Rs. 6 lakh was spent on dismantling of the old monastery.
He underlined that the Ringhim Monastery hosts several rituals and prayers, three of which were unique to the monastery and involved the participation of monks from several other monasteries of the state under the guidance of Dodrupchen Rinpoche. This made the monastery special and the need for completion of the reconstruction process more urgent, he said.
Also on the day, five locals were felicitated with tokens of appreciation by the Gumpa Committee for their unconditional support towards the monastery and its activities. The felicitated persons are Sonam Wangdi Bhutia, CT Kazi, Acharya P Dorji, Lazang Lepcha and Phituk Kazi.
Acharya Sherap Rinzing informed that Ringhim Monastery was one of the oldest monasteries of Sikkim, having been in existence for 309 years. He further extended gratitude towards the Chief Minister for his spot-sanction of Rs. 1 crore for the first phase of reconstruction during his tour to North Sikkim after the September earthquake.
Addressing the meeting, the area MLA expressed satisfaction over the timely completion of first phase of the reconstruction. He further informed that the Chief Minister has developed several projects for Buddhists in Sikkim and has left no stone unturned to bring development to the state.
He also informed today that the beautification of Mangan bazaar project was in the pipeline on a Rs. 12 crore budget.
Meanwhile, CT Kazi, president of the Ringhim Gumpa Committee informed that the reconstruction was targeted for completion in one year. Earlier, the function was welcomed by Phituk Kazi and winded up with a vote of thanks proposed by the ward panchayat.

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