Follow-up meeting on earthquake relief measures held at Lower Rakdong

LOWER RAKDONG, 25 Nov:  A meeting to deliberate on earthquake relief and other development work was held here at the Gram Prasashan Kendra at Lower Rakdong in East Sikkim. The meeting was attended by Tumin-Lingee MLA, Chief Whip Ugen T Gyatso Bhutia, accompanied by Member of State Planning Commission, Lhakila Tongden Lepcha, BDO Tintek, Tenzing Dorjee Denzongpa, Zilla member, Saraswati Regmi, and Panchayat members of five wards under Rakdong Tintek GPU.
The meeting started with a welcome address by Ward Panchayat, BB Gurung who highlighted about the community requirements in the villages. BDO Tintek, Tenzing Dorjee Denzongpa informed that a total of Rs. 1,77,72000 has been disbursed towards earthquake relief under BAC Tintek as per the physical verification of the damages by the BAC and also informed that the remaining beneficiaries will be compensated within this month. 
The BDO further added that the government has also provided for the people under different schemes like Indira Awas Yojana and CMRHM to overcome the damages. The general secretary, Dikchu Youth Welfare Association, placed and highlighted the demand petition on behalf of the people regarding the construction of the 7 km long Dikchu-Lingdok road, up-gradation of Dikchu Secondary School to Senior Secondary level, protective wall from Dikchu New Market to Dam Site and setting up a State Bank of Sikkim branch at Dikchu.
The people representing different villages also placed suggestions and demands for the development of their village like the provision of drinking water, training for tailoring and knitting for women and some of the villagers’ complaints regarding the delay in completion of Jang-Tintek road up-gradation.
The area MLA, while addressing the meeting, informed that there should be coordination among the people, Panchayat and the government for development. 
“We have visited each and every village in the constituency and with 4,700 houses in Tumin-Lingee it was not possible to visit every house, but the government has provided relief for temporary settlement wherever required,” he said. 
Assuring that houses which have collapsed will be reconstructed, the MLA also announced the construction of five houses - for Mitra Bahadur Gurung, Chandra Bdr Subba, Chapti Rai, Thal Bdr Rai and Damber Bahadur Chettri at Lower Rakdong. 
Appreciating the demand for “hydro tourism”, the MLA said that hydro tourism will boost the economic profile of the area and further added that he will do the needful. He also informed that the DPR for the Dikchu-Lingdok road is being processed and that construction will begin soon.