YK Poudel

Bumthang—Recently, a nurse from Tang Primary Health Center (TPHC) resigned leaving the health center with a lone health assistant (HA) who has to make himself available for all services.

Villagers in Tang, meanwhile, grapple with the absence of a female nurse, making women in particular, uncomfortable when seeking medical assistance and services.

The TPHC presently provides major primary health care services including out-patient and in-patient services, observation, mother and child, laboratory, maternity, emergency and traditional medicine services.

HA Tashi Dhendup, said that on average over 20 people visit the center daily. The center has a traditional medicine health worker to cater to the traditional services including herbal bath.

Tashi Dhendup said that seasonal diseases and infections like common cold, skin diseases and eye infections are common among students. “With improvement in sanitation, the cases of diarrhea have greatly reduced,” he said.

The center also provides annual elderly care camps across the gewog for the convenience of senior citizens. He said that the TPHC covers 400 households where over 2,000 patients visit annually and requires immediate attention. “Being the lone staff here is challenging,” he said.

“Every month, I have to visit five outreach clinics (ORCs) across the gewog. In my absence the TPHC remains shut,” he said. “Having an additional staff would allow smooth flow of services.”

The villagers, especially women, have been raising the need for a female health worker at the earliest.

Moreover, as per health guidelines, a gewog health center should be manned by at least a basic health worker, a health assistant and an auxiliary nurse and midwife.

The need for additional health workers has been raised several times to the gewog and dzongkhag with no attention thus far.

Although, he said, equipment for major health care services is not an issue currently, having a technical expert would allow efficient services at the center itself.

Tang Gup Ugyen Nima, said that the gewog will support certain facilities at the center in its 13th Plan. “The need for additional health workers has to be routed through the dzongkhag since the human resource is managed by the dzongkhag,” he said.

The government has pledged to deliver one doctor and adequate health staff, including one female health worker in all gewogs based on need. The government has also promised to ensure that every Bhutanese will be provided with an annual comprehensive health check-up including blood test, endoscopy and ultrasound.

YK Poudel

Bumthang—Chimme begins his routine before dawn. By 5:30 am, he’s behind the wheel of his bolero, criss-crossing villages in Tang to collect milk from local residents. By 9 am, he’ll have gathered around 650 litres of milk. He has been doing this for over a decade.

Chimme was in eighth grade when his father received support from Helvetas Bhutan to establish a milk-processing unit (MPU) in Tralang, Bumthang. He discontinued his schooling to focus on establishing his own venture. At the age of 32, he considers this business to be a success.

Every week, Chimme delivers over 300 strings of chugo to Thimphu via bus

Chimme’s processing unit, situated a few Kilometres from the Tang Gewog Office, operates throughout the day.

“Since 2018, I have been producing chugo (hardened cheese). It fetches a good price,” he said. “The business has picked up after the pandemic.”

“When the business started in 2009, it focused on cheese and butter production, which wasn’t very lucrative. Today, it is a chugo-producing unit.

Chimme’s success has fueled investments in new machinery, a transportation vehicle, and the hiring of two staff members over the past two years.

While the villagers seek a place to sell their milk, Chimme offers them a market.

The Wobthang Community Farm is a daily supplier of 100 litres of milk. Additionally, 54 households from the community supply 580 litres of milk to the MPU.

During the winter season, milk production declines, with MPU receiving only between 250 and 300 litres of milk, posing a challenge to Chimme’s business.

Every week, Chimme delivers over 300 strings of chugo to Thimphu via bus, each string consisting of 20 pieces, which fetches him Nu 240.

Chimme expressed his interest in expanding his business to produce cheese as well. “However, obtaining grant support for a private business, especially in a rural village setting has been a challenge so far,” he said.

Tshomo, a supplier, starts milking her cows as early as 6:30 am, and by 8:30 am, she has the milk ready for the vehicle to pick up. “I supply between 10 and 20 litres daily, fetching Nu 40 per litre,” she said. “The initiative is beneficial for the farmers in the village—we are able to earn a favourable price.”

Norlha, a farmer from Kidum, walks for half an hour to reach the road point.

“The price of milk has increased and it’s much better when we have local infrastructure in the village itself,” he said. “Farmers in the chiwog depend on livestock, making it crucial for relevant agencies to provide timely support with fodder and feed—doing so will encourage the farmers to work effectively.”

Thinley Namgay

The initial phase of selecting Bhutanese runners for the 2024 Snowman Race (SMR) will begin in mid-July with the selection run.

The SMR Secretariat and the Bhutan Amateur Athletic Federation (BAAF) have finalised the route for the selection run.

The day-long race will start from Thimphu and conclude in Paro. The route has been planned to expose runners to diverse elevations, mirroring the conditions encountered during the SMR, helping them acclimatise for the high-altitude run.

The race will start from Motithang in Thimphu. Runners will cross Phajoding, Labana, Jigme Langtsho, Tshokam, Jele Dzong, and conclude at Paro National Museum.

Covering a distance of 61km in a day, participants will experience elevations of up to 4,000 metres above sea level. The endpoint in Paro is situated at 2,450 metres above sea level.

There will be five aid stations—Phajoding, Simkota Tsho, Jimilangtsho, Jangchulkha, and Jele Dzong.

As of yesterday, only two participants had registered. Registration will remain open for more than a month.

In the second phase, eight runners chosen from the first round will compete in Laya alongside highland runners to select the top five national runners who will then compete with a group of elite international runners in the SMR.

The decision to prioritise the participation of highlanders in the second phase is aimed at showcasing their stories about the impact of climate change on their communities.

Personal training is ongoing for race enthusiasts. However, the top national athletes from the first SMR are not allowed to participate this time, as they are currently training under the BAAF for international competitions.

The SMR Secretariat, along with 17 other agencies, is gearing up for the activities of this second edition of the race.

The SMR Secretariat and representatives from various agencies held two rounds of technical meetings.

One of the issues discussed at the technical meeting on May 8 was accommodation for officials and runners, as the event coincides with the Royal Highland Festival.

The race will take place on the second day of the Royal Highland Festival in Laya. For some, finding accommodation may be difficult. However, the SMR Secretariat has agreed to ensure early booking with homestay owners.

To attract international participants, Drukair would provide ticket discounts for international runners and the international production team. Moreover, special rate discounts for helicopter services would be offered to international media.

The agencies involved are advised to develop a standard operating procedure on how they can contribute to the race. An official from the DeSuung Office stated that, unlike other agencies, dessups can coordinate and provide necessary support in various areas as requested by agencies.

 

Media Coverage

NHK International, Nippon Hoso Kyokai  (Japan Broadcasting Corporation), has agreed to produce a special programme with SMR as the main theme and feature Bhutan’s message on climate change.

This will be one of the special programmes when NHK celebrates 100 years in 2025. NHK will  collaborate  with Bhutan Broadcasting Service and will have a programme  in English, Japanese, and Dzongkha.

Michel Beck from Bishop Peak Production will also produce a special documentary about the race.

 

Risk Management Plans

The SMR is regarded as the world’s toughest race, and the well-being of runners and officials on duty is the primary concern for the country.

The technical team meeting agreed to address the shortcomings of the first SMR in 2022. Reflecting on past issues, the technical team decided to relocate the third aid station to Geche Gom instead of Geche Wom, address the absence of mobile network coverage, and utilise satellite phones for communication.

Moreover, the technical team discussed installing very high-frequency (VHF) radio base sets at all checkpoints to facilitate communication between aid stations and using postpaid SIM cards for satellite phones in aid stations and prepaid SIM cards elsewhere.

Training on the Global Positioning System (GPS) tracker for runners will be coordinated by RBP, Bhutan Red Cross Society, and other relevant agencies.

 

Changes in this year’s SMR

The race will start from Laya instead of Gasa Dzong in the first edition. The SMR Secretariat stated that flagging off the race on the second day of the Royal Highland Festival would provide an opportunity for participants of both the festival and the race to meet and build networks. “It is also a great opportunity to celebrate their commitment to a good cause together.”

The distance of the 2024 SMR is 196km instead of 203km. Runners will have to complete it in four days, ending in Bumthang. The distances from Laya to Tarina camp, Tarina to Tenche, Tenche to Warthang, and Warthang to Chamkhar are 45 km, 51 km, 46 km, and 54 km, respectively.

Fifteen runners will participate in the race, comprising 10 international runners and five Bhutanese competitors. Organisers aim to provide equal opportunities to both genders. In the first edition, 29 runners participated.

According to the SMR Secretariat, the number of runners has been reduced to increase the profile of athletes with the potential to generate increased climate action and awareness. “The other advantage of a smaller number is the safety of the runners and those organising the race, as it will be easier to manage.”

Eight international athletes have confirmed their participation.

Runners will compete across oxygen-sparse terrain with an average elevation of 4,500m (14,800 feet), with the highest point reaching 5,470m (17,946 feet).

That our financial institutions (FIs) are mulling to provide loan deferment from six months to a year to borrowers facing genuine financial difficulties comes as a huge relief to the thousands of borrowers across various sectors. The current loan deferment period ends on June 30. Many in the private sector including small businesses are worried.

Notwithstanding interventions through fiscal and monetary policies since the Covid-19 pandemic, the private sector, much of it, is yet to recover. This could be attributed to the slowdown in the economy. Even with a positive growth trend, the impact is not felt on the ground. If the private sector is expected to drive the economy, those in the sector say except for the mining and the ferro silicon industries, the rest are struggling including from the burden of repaying loans.

At a time when the economy is still in the expectation mode of bouncing back, the financial institution could lend a helping hand to its clients, who like they said, are in genuine need. The sectors being considered are many, an acknowledgement of the problems. The conditions are clear and assessment stringent.

Even if,  like a banker said, factors such as borrowers’ income, occupancy rate (hotel), and overall business performance are considered, there would be hundreds if not thousands who would request deferment. Who gets or not will depend on the conditions set, but the banks surely should come to the rescue of their clients.

The tourism industry has bounced back with tourist arrivals in the first three months nearly doubling last spring’s figure. The government announced a revenue of USD 13 million. Allied sectors like the hotel industry are still struggling. Steep undercutting to the pre- pandemic level for dollar-paying tourists and  absorbing the daily sustainable fee of Nu 1,200 in the package has led to the increased number, but the revenue has not trickled down to the hotel business.  Everybody owes the banks and they compromise to give in to tour agents who they depend on for guests. Occupancy rate as of now is a mere 20 percent even though many are selling cheap.

Contractors, big and small are saying there is no work because there are no investments. Retail businesses often become the joke as they bask in the sun waiting for customers. Mi Ra Mindu (there are no people) is the common reason for businesses shutting or moving away.

At the moment, our banks, if they could help  borrowers in need, would not be “a place where they lend you an umbrella in fair weather and ask for it back when it begins to rain.”

Deferring loan payment alone, even for a year, however, is a short term solution. What is needed is investments to spur economic activities that in turn will create employment.

KP Sharma  

Amidst the ongoing concern over severe shortages of teachers in schools nationwide, there is an increasing public discussion about whether employing B.Ed graduates could effectively tackle these vacant positions.

The public discussion surfaced following the government’s formation of a committee to explore the regularisation of contract employees, a matter that was previously abandoned by the former government due to policy constraints.

People are asking why allowing trained teachers easier entry into civil service is difficult if the government can undertake such challenging reforms.

Trainees are hopeful for changes under the new government and with the establishment of the new RCSC.

Initially, B.Ed graduates did not have to sit civil service exams.

A teacher in Samtse said that civil service exam and other screening processes became mandatory due to an excess supply of teachers.

“In the past, the teacher attrition rate was not high, and to manage the surplus teachers beyond the market demand, the RCSC exam served as a filter,” he said.

With changes in enrollment policies at the Royal University of Bhutan (RUB), B.Ed trainees at institutions such as Samtse College of Education (SCE) and Paro College of Education (PCE) are now selected at the beginning of the admission process, ahead of admissions for other colleges.

The rationale behind this initiative, as previously stated by the RUB, is to enhance the attractiveness of the teaching profession by admitting only high academic achievers into the teacher training programmes.

Now, high-achieving students are joining teaching programs and getting four years of training. But they feel it’s unfair because, despite their skills, they have to face tough scrutiny in different areas during the RCSC.

However, if they don’t pass the RCSC, their future is at risk because they are specialised in teaching and have limited job options compared to other graduates.

Although the RCSC now lets candidates sit for civil service exam multiple times to increase their chances of getting through, it has not worked well for B.Ed graduates.

When B.Ed graduates are hired for contract positions, it demoralises them as they feel it is unfair. Despite completing extensive four-year courses, they still don’t have a secure future.

This is why many B.Ed graduates in contract positions have left for other opportunities. Being placed in the same status as general graduates or with a different contract makes them regret their decision.

A teacher in Dagana said that once trainees are enrolled in the four-year courses, they undergo rigorous training in teaching and RCSC is not mandatory for them.

He added that now the trainees are selected first, taking only the high achievers and when they are tested solely on Dzongkha, English, and aptitude during the RCSC, it cannot truly define their ability in the teaching profession.

He pointed out that while the viva tests assess speaking skills, they do not evaluate actual teaching abilities. This, he added, gives an advantage to individuals who are fluent speakers.

He questioned why, despite the pressing need for teachers, the RCSC prioritises screening processes, and some individuals aren’t even hired on contract.

He suggested that to enhance education quality, the education ministry should have autonomy, creating its own regulations.

The teacher believes that such a development could help alleviate the issue of teacher shortages, as it would streamline the recruitment processes and administrative procedures, leading to quicker hiring.

ཆར་ཆུའི་དུས་ཚོད་ འགོ་བཙུགསཔ་དང་བསྟུན་ སོ་ནམ་པ་ཚུ་གིས་ ཁོང་རའི་ ས་ཞིང་ཚུ་རྨོ་ནི་ འགོ་བཙུགས་ཡོདཔ་བཞིན་དུ་ དུས་ཅི་ ལོ་ཐོག་ཚུ་ ལེགས་ཤོམ་སྦེ་ བསྡུ་ཚུགས་པའི་ རེ་བ་བསྐྱེདཔ་ཨིན་མས།

༉ ཁ་ཙ་ མི་དབང་མངའ་བདག་རིན་པོ་ཆེ་མཆོག་གིས་ སྐུ་སྒེར་ཚོགས་སྡེའི་ ཁྲི་འཛིན་དང་ ཁྲི་འཛིན་འོག་མ་ བསྐོ་བཞག་ཐོག་ ལེགས་དར་གནང་ཡོདཔ་ཨིན་པས།

བློན་པོ་རྟ་མགྲིན་རྡོ་རྗེ་(མཁས་དབང་)ལུ་ འབུ་རས་ལི་ཝང་གནང་ཡོདཔ་བཞིན་དུ་ སྐུ་སྒེར་ཚོགས་སྡེའི་ ཁྲི་འཛིན་སྦེ་ བསྐོ་བཞག་གནང་ཡོདཔ་ད་ བློན་པོ་རྟ་མགྲིན་རྡོ་རྗེ་གིས་ སྤྱི་ལོ་༡༩༧༦ ཟླ་༡༢ པའི་ནང་ པུ་ནི་ལུ་ དམག་སྡེ་གི་ གསོ་བའི་མཐོ་རིམ་སློབ་གྲྭ་ནང་ལས་ མཐར་འཁྱོལ་བྱུང་བའི་ཤུལ་ལུ་ བསྟན་སྲུང་དྲག་པོའི་དམག་སྡེ་ནང་ འགོ་དཔོན་འབད་དེ་ ལོ་ངོ་༣༠ ཕྱག་ཞུ་ཡོདཔ་ཨིན་པས།

སྤྱི་ལོ་༢༠༠༩ ལུ་ མི་དབང་མངའ་བདག་རིན་པོ་ཆེ་མཆོག་གིས་ བློན་པོ་རྟ་མགྲིན་རྡོ་རྗེ་ལུ་ འབུ་རས་དམརཔོ་ གནང་ཡོདཔ་ཨིན་པས།

དྲགོས་སྐལ་བཟང་དབང་འདུས་ལུ་ ལྷན་རྒྱས་འོགམ་གི་ བཀབ་ནེ་གནང་ཡོདཔ་བཞིན་དུ་ སྐུ་སྒེར་ཚོགས་སྡེའི་ ཁྲི་འཛིན་འོག་མ་སྦེ་ བསྐོ་བཞག་གནང་ཡོདཔ་ཨིན་པས།

དྲགོས་སྐལ་བཟང་དབང་འདུས་ཀྱིས་ ལྷན་རྒྱས་གཞུང་ཚོགས་ཀྱི་ དྲུང་ཆེན་དང་ འབྲུག་གི་སྐུ་ཚབ་སྦེ་ ཕྱག་ཞུ་ཡོདཔ་ཨིན་པའི་གནས་ཚུལ།

བཙན་སྐྱོགས་དབང་འདུས།

སྐུ་སྒེར་ཚོགས་སྡེའི་ཁྲི་འཛིན་ བློན་པོ་རྟ་མགྲིན་རྡོ་རྗེ་(གཡས་)དང་ སྐུ་སྒེར་ཚོགས་སྡེའི་ ཁྲི་འཛིན་འོགམ་ དྲགོས་སྐལ་བཟང་དབང་འདུས།

…hotels with low occupancy might be eligible 

Thukten Zangpo  

Financial institutions (FIs) are likely to offer loan deferment from six months to one year to the borrowers facing genuine financial hardships after the current loan deferment period ends on June 30 this year.

However, the deferments will be granted by individual FIs based on a thorough client assessment on a case-by-case basis.

The Royal Monetary Authority previously had set loan assessment criteria, which individual banks used to develop their own procedures.

The banks have already notified the borrowers about the deferment process so that they can submit requests for deferment eligibility.

A banker said that the assessment would be strict and consider factors such as borrowers’ income, occupancy, and overall business performance. 

For construction loans, occupancy rates for hotels, rental income, location for buildings, and other sources of income will be considered during the assessment.

“Borrowers with demonstrably not adequate or reduced income can apply for deferral from six months to one year. Hotels, particularly those with low occupancy rates, are likely to be considered for deferment,” the banker added.

Another banker said that most of the loan deferrals so far were provided to the hotel businesses that were significantly affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.

“The occupancy rate of 35 percent and above would be considered serviceable; below 35 percent would require loan deferment,” he said, adding that most of the hotels three star and below could face problems.

Monthly occupancy rate would be assessed for hotels; quarterly if the hotel business is working well.

In the manufacturing and industry, despite improving production and exports, the banks will assess loan status on a case-by-case basis. Location, however, could play a significant role. 

Similarly, assessments will be conducted on a case-by-case basis for retail and trade. 

Contracts facing delays with government payments could also receive loan deferment. 

A banker said that the FIs are actively refining assessment tools to ensure that borrowers have the capacity to repay after the deferment period. 

Discouraging loan deferment, a banker said that previously, interest accumulated during the initial Covid-19 deferment period was parked in a fixed equated installment facility account, allowing borrowers to repay it over ten years. 

However, interest accumulated for deferrals granted after June 2024 should be paid immediately or will be added to the loan principal, resulting in higher EMIs.

Out of 149, 065 loan accounts that amount to Nu 215.88 billion with FIs, 12, 941 accounts, amounting to Nu 56.5 billion have been deferred until June this year.

Jigmi Wangdi

To enhance the quality of healthcare services in Bhutan, the Service Delivery Indicators (SDI) health survey was conducted from May 2022 to February 2023. The findings from this survey will play a crucial role in developing a well-informed action plan aimed at enhancing the overall health outcomes of the population in the country.

The survey found that most facilities had functional information technology equipment such as telephone (100 percent), printer (94.1 percent), and computer (93.7 percent) available on the day of the survey. However, only 58.5 percent had functional internet, and only 17.3 percent had uninterrupted internet access from March to May 2022.

The survey acts as a crucial instrument for evaluating and comparing the effectiveness of primary healthcare service delivery. It offers policy-relevant data to identify both accomplishments and areas requiring enhancement in delivering health services.

The survey focuses on three domains of primary health care service delivery; foundations, processes of care, and person-centred outcomes. These domains encompass essential aspects such as care organisation, competency of healthcare providers, patient experience, and financial protection.

The survey highlighted observations on primary healthcare foundations, including outpatient volume, availability of pharmacies and laboratory services, and facility connectivity. 

Observations in processes of care focused on patient retention, adherence to infection, prevention and control (IPC) protocols, and emergency preparedness. 

The survey highlighted patient satisfaction, care uptake and retention, and financial costs incurred by patients. 

Health Economist at the World Bank in South Asia, Kathryn Andrews, who led the survey, stated that the success story is around the universal electrification of health facilities.

“However, at the same time, a potential area of growth is around the frequency of power interruptions. Around 10 percent of facilities reported having uninterrupted power over the past three months and a typical facility had about five disruptions of electricity. The median duration of the longest interruption lasts about 12 hours,” Kathryn Andrews said.

She highlighted similar issues in the areas of water availability, internet connectivity and other key areas which could hamper the delivery of services at primary healthcare centres in the country. 

It was also highlighted that many facilities had at least one improved functioning and accessible toilet onsite (94.6 percent); a functioning handwashing facility with soap within five metres  from the toilet (88.1 percent); and at least one hand hygiene facility at a point of care (86.6 percent).

However, while all facilities had an improved water source, only 39.4 percent reported having an improved, functioning, on-premises water source that was also uninterrupted between March and May 2022.

Recommendations 

The survey shared key recommendations to ensure that the delivery of services can be improved upon for effective and efficient quality services. 

It suggests strengthening facility accessibility and reducing interruptions to key health facility infrastructure to improve equitable access. It also suggests enhancing service provider capacities through interventions such as refresher training and job aids, especially in areas like maternal and child health and mental health.

Another recommendation is the need to improve management and supervision structures in health facilities by providing management training to facility managers, conducting regular performance reviews, and enhancing external supervisory visits.

The survey also suggests utilising the data from the SDI health survey to inform policy decisions and drive improvements in primary health care service delivery.

It has been found that focusing on person-centred outcomes and ensuring that patients are at the centre of care by addressing patient satisfaction, care uptake, and financial costs incurred by patients will improve the quality of services. 

The Bhutan SDI Health Survey is the first of its kind in the South Asia Region, and was conducted through a partnership comprising the World Bank, the Ministry of Health of Bhutan, and the Khesar Gyalpo University of Medical Sciences of Bhutan.

…over 80 households in Tang affected 

YK Poudel

Late spring frost last week damaged over 120-acres of potato, wheat and barley fields in Khangrab and Tandigang chiwogs in Tang, Bumthang.

Altogether, 80 farmers, 58 in Khangrab and 22 in Tandigang could lose their crop to the frost.  

 Sangay Dawa, a farmer from Tandigang said that although it is not the first time, this year’s frost was the worst in her 25 years of growing potatoes. Sangay Dawa grows potatoes in her 1.5-acres land compared to over 2-acres in past years. 

Potatoes in Bumthang are harvested from mid-June to July. 

Potatoes in Bumthang are harvested from mid-June to July

The frost, farmers said, will affect yield. “After paying Nu 1,000 per hour for tractor, Nu 300 for power tiller and engaging over hundred workers, the hard work could go to waste,” Sangay Dawa said.

Many farmers are already concerned of what price they will fetch if the frost affects the quality of yield. 

Tashi Lhendup, Tshogpa of Tandigang chiwog, said all 22 households in the village grow potatoes, wheat and barley, and the frost has not spared a single household.

The issue was immediately examined and reported to the gewog. 

The Tshogpa of Khangrab chiwog, Sonam Dorji, said that as of now 58 potato growing farmers of the 80 households have been affected in his chiwog. 

“The last time when such a case occurred, farmers received some fertilizers which helped to an extent, however, this time we have not heard anything from the gewog officials,” he said.

As per the gewog agriculture official, the crop’s  survival possibility is quite high in lower elevations like Khangrab, although production will be hampered. “For a high elevation like Tandigang, the possibility of survival is minimal—further hindered by the harvesting season approaching,” the official said.

 Tang Gup, Ugyen Nima, said that the issue has been reported to the gewog and gewog officials have done the necessary study. “While there is no compensation for damage from frosts, the report of the challenge faced by the farmers will be submitted to the dzongkhag and be a part of the discussion during the Dzongkhag Tshogdu scheduled soon,” he said.

The gewog has been supporting the farmers with seeds and fences on a cost-sharing basis.

Jigmi Wangdi

The Bhutan Red Cross Society (BRCS) has been making significant strides in areas of disaster management and emergency response since its inception in 2017, playing a vital role in serving as an auxiliary channel in communities around the country. 

The BRCS marked its seventh foundation day yesterday, coinciding with the World Red Cross Red Crescent Day. 

The event brought together a total of 45 branch co-ordinators to deliberate on matters crucial to humanitarian efforts in the communities and will undergo extensive capacity-building training as part of the community disaster response preparedness initiative. 

The impacts of BRCS are evident in the country. So far, approximately 12,000 people have benefited through disaster response and restoration works in six branches, 158,476 people benefited through various social services like crowd management, waste management, meal preparation, etc. and 10 blood donation camps were organised where 491 blood units were donated by volunteers, among others. 

The secretary general of BRCS, Dragyel Tenzin Dorjee, said: “We can see, even today, how we get heavy rainfall although it is not monsoon yet, which can cause natural disasters. We are also preparing our volunteers on what to do if an earthquake were to occur.”

He added that a focus was to enhance services in the community by training the community response teams in the country. 

Dragyel Tenzin said that the main objective for this year was to empower the branch coordinators. “This is because if there is a disaster or emergency in the dzongkhags, they are part of the dzongkhag disaster management response mechanism.” 

The training was focused on gearing up and preparing the co-ordinators to be able to lead as disaster responders, Dragyel Tenzin said. 

“The basic thumb rule, which is called the golden hour in emergency response, is 72 hours to carry out a quick response. For this reason, we want to ensure our coordinators are professionally trained. The two-day training will further enhance their capacity and disaster preparedness,” Dragyel Tenzin said. 

During the Covid-19 pandemic, BRCS carried out many initiatives that contributed to controlling the spread of the virus. 

“It was a good opportunity for BRCS to solicit and commit our services. Our specialised services, such as body management and cremation grounds services during the pandemic are some examples. Another service was the ride for health, where we converted our taxi volunteer base into temporary ambulances,” Dragyel Tenzin said. 

He added that BRCS services during natural disasters expand from search and rescue to emergency responses. 

As per the BRCS Strategy 2030, the focus will be on stationing at least five professionally trained volunteers in 205 gewogs. So far, BRCS has around 8,000 volunteers in the country. 

Neten Dorji

Kangpara— Frequent roadblocks in the summer months along the Paydung area, located 8 kilometers from Kangpara gewog towards Thrimshing, inconvenience commuters using the Kangpara-Thrimshing GC roads.

Every summer, falling boulders and landslides consistently obstruct a 140-meter stretch of the road.

Due to the blockage, residents traveling to Thrimshing and other destinations are compelled to either return home or opt for an alternative route via Baydengphu, which is situated 58 kilometers away, to reach Thrimshing.

Annually, the gewog administration must hire machines to clear roadblocks and deploy human resources at the site for road clearance.

“A significant portion of the gewog budget is consistently allocated to clearing roadblocks at Paydung Brak,” remarked a resident. “The recurring slides and accumulation of small gravels continue to obstruct the road.”

It was learned that keeping the road clear and the Padydung blocks open to traffic costs the government more than Nu 1.5 to 2 million (M) every year on average.

Residents of Kangpara assert that they are adversely impacted every monsoon season by the blockage at Paydung towards Thrimshing and Khaling towards Trashigang.

“I fear we will endure the same predicament next monsoon,” remarked a resident, Yeshi Dorji. “It seems everyone overlooks the issue during winter, but come monsoon, we find ourselves isolated and cut off from essential connections.”

“At Paydung Brak, there is debris from a landslide above the road,” expressed another resident, Melam Dorji. “There are numerous flows of debris and runoff in Paydung Brak that are gradually slowing down and posing a risk of falling onto the road. I fear that these flows of debris may eventually bury vehicles passing by.”

Civil servants stress the pressing need for a solution to the challenges in the Paydung area before the monsoon season commences.

A civil servant highlighted the high risk of driving through this area due to shooting boulders and landslides.

“Communities have faced challenges commuting along this road for the past five years, and unfortunately, this year, we anticipate encountering the same difficulties.”

Bolero driver Tashi Wangdi expressed concern that if no action is taken before the monsoon, commuters to Kangpara will be forced to continue detouring via Baydengphu, incurring significant costs for the people.  

“But the Baydengphu road is also susceptible to landslides in summer,” he noted. “The plight of travellers will only worsen if a permanent solution is not found.”

Tashi Wangdi said that this road serves as a lifeline for more than 5,459 people in Kangpara. Road users emphasize that merely clearing the blocks when they occur will not resolve the problem; sustainable solutions are needed.

“We have been informed that the gewog has proposed a permanent solution, but nothing has materialized yet,” lamented Tashi. “It has been over five years since landslides have become a recurrent issue in the area.”

Kangpara Gup, Sangay Tenzin, said that the gewog administration has proposed to the dzongkhag and central government to find a lasting solution to the landslide problem.

 “The government must dispatch an expert to conduct a survey and determine the most effective strategy to address the issue,”he urged the group. “With limited budget allocation, our options are restricted to road clearance.”

The 33-kilometer GC road, stretching from Kharungla to Kangpara, benefits the residents of five chiwogs, reducing travel time by an hour when the road is clear.

 However, when there is a blockage at Paydung, people are compelled to travel approximately 58 kilometers via the Baydengphu route.

“Kangpara is underdeveloped, and with all these challenges, I doubt it will ever progress,” remarked a businessman. “It appears that our plight is being ignored by authorities.”

Listening to her daughters talk about authorities branding the Puth Group as an illegal pyramid scheme, the mother recalls how in the early 1990s she joined a scheme and won a pressure cooker and started looking for more members in the village in Thimphu.

She was introduced to the paper-based scheme by a neighbour who became a member while in Samtse to meet her in-laws. She recalls how members won sewing machines, video games (Super Mario), then a choice of their children and many more. Not many realised it was no different to the latest pyramid schemes and online scams, many who let you win a few to rob you entirely in the end. 

The lure for easy money cannot get Bhutanese out of the scammers’ hook. It just shows our vulnerability notwithstanding the interventions from authorities. Just two years ago, a host of social media influencers joined the authorities in an aggressive advocacy campaign against shady digital investment schemes and related scams that lure people with promises of profit.

On top of the awareness programmes are the warnings and advisories from the police and central banks. Despite these, many fall victim to scammers. Puth Group, before it was branded as a pyramid scheme, had many Bhutanese members. The e-commerce business licence the proprietor acquired made it easier to convince people to join.

The process is the same. Such schemes make money by recruiting more and more members or sellers at the bottom of the ladder. People try scrutinising schemes by checking the members. Victims say that seeing senior civil servants, corporate employees, relatives and friends as members provide them the security or assurance to join the scheme.

Ponzi schemes, online scams and pyramid schemes, will keep coming back in different names and strategies. The next one will be more convincing if aided with artificial intelligence that, for instance, might even let you talk to your relatives or friends  in real time about their new fortunes. 

We cannot stop scams. Many originate from beyond our borders. WeChat, a social media application is offering rewards for just sharing the contact. They have video clips of Bhutanese thanking WeChat for the rewards. But we can stop people from being a victim.

What makes Bhutanese more vulnerable is the secrecy surrounding the scams or schemes, especially when one loses money. Even if colleagues or relatives come to know about the loss, they will not admit, forget advising or warning them from joining such schemes. 

Scammers or fraudsters are always one step ahead as authorities. The risk is high as smartphones loaded with social media apps are means of communication and entertainment. Being information and media literate could help to a large extent.  

 The lesson: No one will give you easy money. 

Sherab Lhamo   

A week ago, a woman invested Nu 24,000, after her friends influenced her to invest in a foreign company. She was convinced when told that she would earn in US dollars when she adds new members while viewing and clicking on the products on their website. 

The woman said she received USD 9 (Nu 753), when she clicked on nine product images daily. In a week she was able to earn USD 87. She said she could withdraw the money whenever she wanted. 

That was how the woman was introduced to Puth Group, now an illegal pyramid scheme. The members have an investment choice ranging from Nu 5,000 to Nu 20,000. The returns depend on the amount invested. 

Other people have shared similar experiences of being able to earn around Nu 800 in a week. They shared that if one is serious about investing in the Puth Group, they earn around USD 100 to 200 monthly.

 The story is the same with a new member providing their details like mobile number, bank name, bank account and citizenship identity card number. On their website is a feature for members to recharge money, which gives them access to unlock products from which they start to earn.

The Puth Group is registered as a retail sale via mail order or via internet (E-commerce)in the name Phuntsho Wangdi. On their website, Puth Group is shown as a legal e-commerce company established in Colorado, USA in 2020.

On Tuesday, the Competition and Consumer Affairs Authority (CCAA) announced Puth Group as a pyramid scheme.

On April 30, CCAA, while publishing statistics of unethical business practice, suspected one business of being a pyramid scheme and started investigating. An official said the licence holder must have been misusing the licence.

As per the trade department’s guidelines on E-commerce 2019, licensees must comply with rights of consumer duties and obligations of business entities laid out in the Consumer Protection Act of Bhutan 2012 and Consumer Protection Rules and Regulations (CPRR), 2015.

Establishing, operating or promoting pyramid promotional schemes where a consumer receives compensation that is derived primarily from the introduction of other consumers into the scheme rather than from the sale or consumption of products is classified as unfair trade practice and therefore illegal, as per the Consumer Protection Rules and Regulations 2015.

According to a press release issued by the CCAA, such schemes are designed to mislead people, and are fundamentally unsustainable —prone to eventually collapse. This leaves members without a promised return on their investment.

Meanwhile, the CCAA urged people to refrain from engaging in any form of involvement in this scheme. “Individuals found still promoting and operating this scheme shall be dealt with in accordance with the laws,”  as stated in the press release.

༉ ཕན་ཚུན་མཉམ་འབྲེལ་གྱི་སྒོ་ལས་ ཁེ་ཕན་བྱུང་བའི་དཔེ་ཡོདཔ་འདྲཝ་འབད་བ་ཅིན་ བུམ་ཐང་སུ་ཡིསི་དར་ཚིལ་ལས་འགུལ་དང་ སོ་ནམ་པ་ཚུ་གིས་ ལམ་ཕྱོགས་དེ་ཁར་ མདུན་ལམ་བཟང་སྟེ་ ལོ་ངོ་བཅུ་ཕྲག་གསུམ་ལྷགཔ་ཅི་ སོང་ཡོདཔ་ཨིན་པས།

དར་ཚིལ་བཟོ་སྦྱོར་ཁང་ནང་ ཨོམ་གྱི་ཐོན་སྐྱེད་དགོ་པའི་ཁར་ སོ་ནམ་པ་༢༥ ལྷགཔ་ཅིག་ལུ་ ཚོང་འབྲེལ་དགོཔ་སྦེ་ཡོདཔ་ད་ བཟའ་ཚང་གིས་ ད་ལྟོ་ཚོང་སྒྱུར་འཐབ་ཡོད་མི་དེ བུམ་ཐང་སུ་ཡིསི་དར་ཚིལ་ལས་འགུལ་གྱི་མིང་ཡང་ སི་ཡིསི་གི་དར་ཚིལ་ ཁྱད་འཕགས་ཅན་སྦེ་ བཟོ་སྦྱོར་འབད་མི་ གཱའུ་ཌ་དང་ ཨིམ་མེན་ཊལ་ དེ་ལས་ དར་ཚིལ་འཇམ་སུ་སྦེ་ ཡོད་མི་ཚུ་ཨིན་པས།

ཉིནམ་ཨ་རྟག་ར་ འོད་ཟེར་ལྷ་མོ་གི་ བུ་སྦོམ་ཤོས་དེ་གིས་ སྣུམ་འཁོར་བཏང་ཐོག་ལས་ ཆོས་འཁོར་རྒེད་འོག་གི་ གཡུས་མི་ སྒོ་ནོར་གསོ་སྐྱོང་འཐབ་མི་ཚུ་གིས་ ལམ་བདའ་བཞག་མི་ ཨོམ་ཚུ་བསྡུ་ལེན་འབད་དོ་ཡོདཔ་ད་ སོ་ནམ་པ་ ལ་ལོ་ཅིག་གིས་ བཟོ་སྦྱོར་ཁང་དེ་ནང་ ཨོམ་བཀྲམ་སྤེལ་འབད་དེ་ ཧ་ལམ་ལོ་ངོ་༣༠ ལྷག་ཡོདཔ་ཨིན་པས།

བུམ་ཐང་སུ་ཡིསི་དར་ཚིལ་ལས་འགུལ་དེ་ སྤྱི་ལོ་༡༩༨༠ གྱ་གྲངས་ལས་ འགོ་བཙུགས་ཡོདཔ་ད་ དེ་ཡང་ གཞུང་དང་ ཧེལ་བ་ཊསི་གཉིས་ མཉམ་འབྲེལ་ཐོག་ལས་ འབད་ཡོདཔ་བཞིན་དུ་ སྤྱི་ལོ་༡༩༩༡ ལས་ གཞུང་གིས་ ལས་འགུལ་དེ་ སྒེར་སྡེ་ལུ་ སྤྲོད་ཡོདཔ་ད་ དེ་ཡང་ བཟའ་ཚང་གི་ལས་སྡེ་ཅིག་སྦེ་ འོད་ཟེར་ལྷ་མོ་བཟའ་ཚང་གིས་ བདག་འཛིན་འཐབ་ཡོདཔ་ཨིན་པས།

ཆོས་འཁོར་ལས་ སྐྱེས་ལོ་༥༧ ལང་མི་ ལམ་ལྡན་གྱིས་ མོ་རའི་བཟའ་ཚང་དང་ མཉམ་འབྲེལ་ཐོག་ བུམ་ཐང་སུ་ཡིསི་དར་ཚིལ་ལས་འགུལ་ནང་ ཨོམ་བཀྲམ་སྤེལ་འབད་དེ་ ལོ་༣༢ ལང་ཡོདཔ་ཨིན་པས།

ང་བཅས་ལུ་ ཚོང་སྒྱུར་འཐབ་མ་ཚུགས་པའི་ ཚ་གྱང་ལང་དགོཔ་མེད་མི་དེ་ཡང་ ཨོམ་གྱི་ཐོན་སྐྱེད་ག་དེམ་ཅིག་ཡོད་རུང་ བཟོ་སྦྱོར་ཁང་དེ་གིས་ ཉོཝ་ཨིན་ཟེར་ཨིན་པས།

ཧེ་མ་ ནད་ཡམས་ཀོ་བིཌ་-༡༩ འི་སྐབས་ལུ་ཡང་ བཟའ་ཚང་ཚུ་ ཚ་གྱང་ལང་དགོཔ་མེད་པར་ ཨོམ་ཚུ་ག་ར་ བཟོ་སྦྱོར་ཁང་གིས་ ལེན་ཡི་ཟེར་ཨིནམ་ད་ ང་བཅས་ལུ་ ཚོང་འབྲེལ་གྱི་ བྱ་སྟབས་བདེ་དྲག་ཡོད་མི་ལུ་བརྟེན་ སྒོ་ནོར་གསོ་སྐྱོང་འཐབ་ནི་ལུ་ སྟབས་མ་བདེཝ་མེད་ཟེར་ཨིནམ་ད་ ང་བཅས་ཀྱིས་ བཟོ་སྦྱོར་ཁང་གི་ ཇོ་བདག་དང་གཅིག་ཁར་ མཐུན་ལམ་ལེགས་ཤོམ་བཞགཔ་ཨིན་ཟེར་ ལམ་ལྡན་གྱིས་ བཤདཔ་ཨིན་པས།

ཐང་སྦིས་ལས་ཨིན་མི་ སྐྱེས་ལོ་༦༨ ལང་མི་ ཨཔ་སངས་རྒྱས་ལ་དེ་ སེམས་དགའ་ཡོད་མི་དེ་ཡང་ ཁོ་གིས་འབད་བ་ཅིན་ བཟོ་སྦྱོར་ཁང་གིས་ བྱ་སྟབས་བདེ་དྲག་སྦེ་ ཁོང་རའི་བ་ཨོམ་བཞོ་བའི་ཤུལ་ལུ་ ཨོམ་ཚུ་སྣུམ་འཁོར་ལམ་གྱི་ སྦོ་ལོགས་ཁར་ བསྐྱལ་བཞག་ནི་ར་ཨིན་ཟེར་ཨིན་པས།

དེ་གིས་སྦེ་ ང་བཅས་ལུ་ ནོར་འཚོ་སྐྱོང་འཐབ་ནི་དང་ ཨོམ་བཞོ་ནི་རྐྱངམ་གཅིག་མ་གཏོགས་ གཞན་འབད་དགོཔ་ག་ནི་ཡང་མེད་ཟེར་ཨིན་པས།

བུམ་ཐང་སུ་ཡིསི་དར་ཚིལ་ལས་འགུལ་གྱིས་ སོ་ནམ་པ་ཚུ་ལུ་ སྒོ་ནོར་སེམས་ཅན་ ཉོ་སྒྲུབ་འབད་ནིའི་དོན་ལུ་ མ་དངུལ་གྱི་བསྐྱིན་འགྲུལ་ཚུ་ཡང་ བྱིན་དོ་ཡོདཔ་ད་ དར་ཚིལ་བཟོ་སྦྱོར་འབད་ནིའི་ འཕྲུལ་ཆས་ལུ་ ཨོམ་ལི་ཊར་༨༠༠ དེ་རེ་ བཟོ་སྦྱོར་འབད་ཚུགས་པའི་ ཤུགས་ཚད་ཡོདཔ་ད་ ད་ལྟོ་བཟུམ་ཅིག་ནང་ འབད་བ་ཅིན་ བཟོ་སྦྱོར་ཁང་གིས་ སོ་ནམ་པ་དང་ བ་རཱའུན་སི་ཡིསི་ཚུ་ནང་ལས་ ཉིན་བསྟར་བཞིན་དུ་ ཨོམ་ལི་ཊར་༦༠༠ དེ་རེ་ ཐོབ་ཚུགས་དོ་ཡོདཔ་ད་ སོ་ནམ་པ་ཚུ་ལུ་ ཨོམ་ལི་ཊར་རེ་ལུ་ དངུལ་ཀྲམ་༤༨ རེ་ བྱིན་དོ་ཡོདཔ་ཨིན་པས།

འོད་ཟེར་ལྷ་མོ་གིས་ འབད་བཅིན་ ཁོང་ལུ་ ཨོམ་མངམ་སྦེ་ དགོཔ་ཡོད་ཟེར་ཨིནམ་ད་ ང་བཅས་ཀྱི་ བཟོ་སྦྱོར་འཕྲུལ་ཆས་དེ་ གོང་ཚད་ས་ཡ་ལས་བཅད་དེ་སྤྲོད་ཡོདཔ་ལས་ ཨོམ་ལངམ་སྦེ་ ཐོབ་མ་ཚུགསཔ་ད་ གྱོང་རྒུད་འདུག་ཟེར་ཨིན་པས།

ཨིན་རུང་ འོད་ཟེར་ལྷ་མོ་གིས་ བཤད་མིའི་ནང་ དུས་ཅི་ལས་འགོ་བཙུགས་ བ་རཱའུན་སུ་ཡིསི་གསོ་སྐྱོང་ཁང་ནང་ལས་ ཨོམ་ལངམ་སྦེ་ ཐོབ་ཚུགས་པའི་ སྒྲིག་ཆ་འབད་དེ་ཡོད་ཟེར་ཨིནམ་ད་ དར་ཚིལ་སྤུས་ཚད་དང་ལྡནམ་སྦེ་ ཐོན་སྐྱེད་འབད་ནིའི་དོན་ལུ་ ཨོམ་གྱི་སྤུས་ཚད་ཡང་ ལེགས་ཤོམ་དགོཔ་འདུག་ཟེར་ཨིནམ་ད་ བ་རཱའུན་སུ་ཡིསི་གི་ཨོམ་ཚུ་ སྤུས་ཚད་ལེགས་ཤོམ་འདུག་ཟེར་ཨིན་པས།

ད་རེས་ནངས་པར་ རྒྱལ་ཁབ་ནང་ ནོར་གྱི་གྱངས་ཁ་དེ་ མར་བབས་འགྱོ་དོ་ཡོདཔ་ད་ དེ་ཡང་ སྒོ་ནོར་འཚོ་སྐྱོང་འཐབ་མི་ཚུ་གིས་ སྒོ་ནོར་གསོ་སྐྱོང་འབད་ནི་དེ་ བཤོལ་བཞག་མི་ལུ་བརྟེན་ཨིནམ་ད་ སྒོ་ནོར་ལས་ཁུངས་ཀྱི་ རྩིས་དཔྱད་གནས་ཐོ་དང་འཁྲིལཝ་ད་ སྤྱི་ལོ་༢༠༡༥ ལུ་ ནོར་༣༠༢,༧༤༤ ཡོད་མི་ལས་ བུམ་ཐང་ལུ་ནོར་༡༠,༩༧༧ ཡོདཔ་ད་ སྤྱི་ལོ་༢༠༢༢ ལུ་ ནོར་གྱི་གྱངས་ཁ་༢༥༤,༨༩༧ ལུ་ མར་བབས་སོང་བའི་སྐབས་སུ་ བུམ་ཐང་ལུ་ནོར་གྱངས་ཁ་༨,༨༨༥ ལུ་ ལྷོད་ཡོདཔ་ཨིན་པའི་གནས་ཚུལ།

ཚེ་རིང་དབང་འདུས།

༉ འདས་པའི་ལོ་ངོ་༡༠ དེ་ཅིག་ ཀུན་བཟང་ཆོས་སྒྲོན་ཤིང་དྲ་ཁང་གི་ཇོ་བདག་ ཨྱོན་ཚེ་རིང་གིས་ ཤིང་ཆས་ཚུ་ཚོང་འབྲེལ་འཐབ་སྟེ་ འཚོ་བ་སྐྱོང་སྡོད་ཡོད་རུང་ ད་རེས་ ཚོང་འབྲེལ་ལེགས་ཤོམ་འགྱོ་མི་བཏུབ་དོ་ཡོདཔ་ཨིན་པས།

དེ་ཡང་ གྲོང་གསེབ་ནང་ལས་ཕར་ ཤིང་དྲ་ཁང་གི་འཕྲུལ་ཆས་ པ་ཝར་ཅན་ ལག་ལེན་འཐབ་མི་ལེ་ཤ་ཡོད་མི་དང་ མང་ཤོས་ཀྱིས་ རང་རྐྱང་གི་ ཤིང་དྲ་ནི་གདམ་ཁ་རྐྱབ་ནི་དེ་གིས་ཨིན་པས།

དེ་མ་ཚད་ གཞུང་གི་ཤིང་ཚོང་འབྲེལ་འཐབ་ནི་དོན་ལུ་ གོང་ཚད་ཀྱི་སྲིད་བྱུས་བཟོ་མི་གིས་ཡང་ བཀྲིས་སྒང་དང་ བཀྲིས་གཡང་རྩེ་ རྫོང་ཁག་གཉིས་ནང་ གཞི་བཙུགས་འབད་མི་ ཤིང་དྲ་ཁང་ཚུ་ སྒོ་བསྡམས་ཡོདཔ་ད་ ལ་ལོ་ཅིག་ སྒོ་བསྡམ་ནི་གུ་ལྷོད་དེ་ཡོདཔ་ཨིན་པས།

ཤིང་དྲ་ཁང་ གཞི་བཙུགས་འབད་མི་ཚུ་གིས་ གཞུང་གི་བཟོ་མི་གོང་ཚད་ཀྱི་སྲིད་བྱུས་དང་ གྲོང་གསེབ་ནང་ལས་ཕར་ པ་ཝར་ཅན་ལག་ལེན་འཐབ་མི་མང་སུ་ཐོན་ནི་དེ་གིས་ ཁོང་རའི་ཚོང་འབྲེལ་ལུ་ ཐོ་ཕོགཔ་མས་ཟེར་ཨིན་པས།

ཀུན་བཟང་ཆོས་སྒྲོན་ཤིང་དྲ་ཁང་གི་ཇོ་བདག་ ཨྱོན་ཚེ་རིང་གིས་སླབ་མིའི་ནང་ ཤིང་གི་གོང་ཚད་སྲིད་བྱུས་བཟོ་མི་དང་ རང་བཞིན་སླར་འབྱུང་ཐོན་སྐྱེད་གོང་འཕེལ་ལས་འཛིན་དང་ དོ་འགྲན་འབད་དགོ་ནི་དེ་གིས་ ཚོང་འབྲེལ་ལེགས་ཤོམ་འགྱོ་མི་བཏུབ་པས་ཟེར་ཨིན་པས།

ཁོ་གིས་འབད་བ་ཅིན་ གྲོང་གསེབ་ནང་ལས་ཕར་ པ་ཝར་ཅན་ལག་ལེན་འཐབ་མི་ ཡར་སེང་འགྱོ་བའི་ཤུལ་ལུ་ ཚོང་འབྲེལ་ལུ་ཐོག་ཕོག་ནི་འགོ་བཙུགས་ཅི་ཟེར་ཨིནམ་ད་ ཧེ་མ་འབད་བ་ཅིན་ ཤིང་སེཕ་ཊི་རེ་ལུ་དངུལ་ཀྲམ་༦༠ དང་༡༠༠ གི་བར་ཐོབ་ཟེར་ཨིན་པས།

རང་བཞིན་སླར་འབྱུང་ཐོན་སྐྱེད་གོང་འཕེལ་ལས་འཛིན་ཚད་ཀྱིས་ གོང་ཚད་མར་ཕབ་ཐོག་ལས་ ཤིང་ཆས་བཙོང་པ་ཅིན་ ཤིང་དྲ་ཁང་གི་ཇོ་བདག་ཚུ་གིས་འབད་རུང་ གོང་ཚད་མར་ཕབ་དང་ གཞུང་གི་གོང་ཚད་གུ་ཚོང་འབྲེལ་འཐབ་ཚུགས་ནི་མས་ཟེར་ ཨྱོན་ཚེ་རིང་གིས་བཤདཔ་ཨིན་པས།

ཤིང་དྲ་ཁང་གི་ཇོ་བདག་ཚུ་གིས་ འབྲེལ་བའི་འགོ་དཔོན་ཚུ་ལུ་ གནད་དོན་དེ་གི་སྐོར་ལས་ ཞུ་བ་འབད་ཡོད་རུང་ ལན་གསལ་ཅིག་ག་ནི་ཡང་མ་ཐོབ་ཟེར་ཨིན་པས།

བཀྲིས་སྒང་པཱམ་ལུ་གཞི་བཙུགས་འབད་མི་ སྐར་གསལ་ཤིང་དྲ་ཁང་གི་ཇོ་བདག་ དོན་གྲུབ་འབྲུག་པ་གིས་འབད་བ་ཅིན་ སྤྱི་ལོ་༢༠༡༣ ལས་ཚུར་ ཚོང་འབྲེལ་ལེགས་ཤོམ་འགྱོ་མ་བཏུབ་ཟེར་ཨིནམ་ད་ བཟོ་སྐྲུན་གྱི་ལས་སྣ་ལེ་ཤ་ཡོད་པའི་སྐབས་ ཚོང་འབྲེལ་གྱི་གོ་སྐབས་ལེགས་ཤོམ་སྡོད་ཅི་ཟེར་ཨིན་པས།

ཁོ་གིས་ སླབ་མིའི་ནང་ ཤིང་མཁོ་འདོད་ མངམ་ཡོད་རུང་ བུམ་ཐང་ལས་ལེན་དགོཔ་ལས་ སྐྱེལ་འདྲེན་གྱི་གླ་ཆ་ལུ་བརྟེན་ གུད་ཕོག་མས་ཟེར་ཨིནམ་ད་ ཀྲག་རེ་ལུ་དངུལ་ཀྲམ་༤༨,༠༠༠ དང་༦༥,༠༠༠ སྤྲོད་དགོཔ་ཐོན་མས་ཟེར་ཨིན་པས།

གཞུང་གི་བཟོ་མི་གོང་ཚད་གུ་ ཤིང་ཆས་ཚོང་འབྲེལ་འཐབ་པ་ཅིན་ གུད་འདུག་ཟེར་ཨིནམ་ད་ ག་དེམ་ཅིག་སྦེ་ དེ་སྦེ་ཚོང་འབྲེལ་འཐབ་དགོ་པ་ཅིན་ ཤིང་དང་འབྲེལ་བའི་ཚོང་འབྲེལ་འཐབ་མི་ཚུགས་ནི་མས་ཟེར་ དོན་གྲུབ་འབྲུག་པ་གིས་བཤདཔ་ཨིན་པས།

ཤིང་དྲ་ཁང་གི་ཇོ་བདག་ ལ་ལོ་ཅིག་གིས་ འབད་བ་ཅིན་ ཤིང་ཆས་ཚོང་འབྲེལ་འཐབ་མི་ལ་ལོ་ཅིག་གིས་ གོང་ཚད་མར་ཕབ་ཐོག་ལས་བཙོང་མི་དང་ ལ་ལོ་ཅིག་གིས་ ཆོག་ཐམ་མེད་པར་ཚོང་འབྲེལ་འཐབ་དོ་ཡོདཔ་ལས་ འབྲེལ་བའི་འགོ་དཔོན་ཚུ་གིས་ ལྟ་རྟོགས་འབད་དགོཔ་འདུག་ཟེར་ཨིན་པས།

ཤིང་དྲ་ཁང་གི་ཇོ་བདག་ པདྨ་རྒྱལ་མཚན་གྱིས་ སླབ་མིའི་ནང་ ཉོ་སྤྱོད་ཉེན་སྲུང་ཡིག་ཚང་གིས་ གཞུང་གི་གོང་ཚད་གུ་ཚོང་འབྲེལ་འཐབ་དགོ་པའི་སྐོར་ལས་ སླབ་དོ་ཡོདཔ་ལས་ ས་གནས་ནང་ གཞུང་གི་གོང་ཚད་ལུ་བཙོང་ཚུགས་པར་ ལ་ཁག་འདུག་ཟེར་ཨིན་པས།

ཁོ་གིས་ སླབ་མིའི་ནང་ ས་གནས་དང་བསྟུན་པའི་ ཤིང་ཆས་ལུ་གོང་ཚད་ བསྐྱར་ཞིབ་འབད་དགོཔ་འདུག་ཟེར་ཨིན་པས།

རང་བཞིན་ཐོན་བསྐྱེད་གོང་འཕེལ་ལས་འཛིན་ཚད་ཀྱི་ འགོ་དཔོན་ཚུ་གིས་འབད་རུང་ ཤར་ཕྱོགས་ལུང་ཕྱོགས་ནང་ བཟོ་སྐྲུན་དང་གོང་འཕེལ་གྱི་ལས་སྣ་ དེ་ཅིག་ར་མེདཔ་ལས་ ཤིང་ཆས་ཚོང་འབྲེལ་འགྱོ་མི་བཏུབ་པས་ཟེར་ཨིནམ་ད་ གནད་དོན་དེ་ལུ་བརྟེན་ ཤིང་དྲ་ཁང་མར་ཕབ་འགྱོ་མས་ཟེར་ཨིན་པས།

ནགས་ཚལ་འགོ་དཔོན་ཅིག་གིས་ སླབ་མིའི་ནང་ ཤིང་གིས་ལྗིད་ཚད་དང་ ལེགས་ཤོམ་ཡོད་མེད་ ལྟ་རྟོགས་དེ་ རང་བཞིན་ཐོན་བསྐྱེད་གོང་འཕེལ་ལས་འཛིན་ཚད་དང་ ནགས་ཚལ་ལས་ཁུངས་ མཉམ་འབྲེལ་ཐོག་ལས་ འབད་དོ་ཟེར་ཨིན་པས།

ཤིང་དྲ་ཁང་གི་ཇོ་བདག་ཚུ་གིས་འབད་བ་ཅིན་ ནགས་ཚལ་འགོ་དཔོན་ཚུ་གིས་ ཤིང་ཆས་ཕར་དང་ཚུར་ སྐྱེལ་འདྲེན་འབད་བའི་སྐབས་ ཆོག་ཐམ་ཡོད་མེད་ ལྟ་རྟོགས་ལེགས་ཤོམ་འབད་དགཔ་འདུག་ཟེར་ཨིནམ་ད་ ལ་ལོ་ཅིག་གིས་ ཆོག་འཐམ་མེད་པར་ ཁྲིམས་འགལ་ཐོག་ལས་ ཤིང་ཆས་བཙོང་དོ་ཡོདཔ་ལས་ ལྟ་རྟོགས་འབད་དགོཔ་འདུག་ཟེར་ཨིན་པས།

གནད་དོན་དེ་ལུ་བརྟེན་ ཤིང་དྲ་ཁང་གི་ཚོང་འབྲེལ་ ཧེང་སྐལ་ར་ མར་ཕབ་འགྱོ་ནིའི་ཉེན་ཁག་འདུག་ཟེར་ ཤིང་དྲ་ཁང་གི་ཇོ་བདག་ཅིག་གིས་ བཤད་ཡོད་པའི་གནས་ཚུལ།

གནས་བརྟན་རྡོ་རྗེ། བཀྲིས་སྒང་།

བཀྲིས་ཕུན་ཚོགས།

༉ འབྲུག་གིས་ སོ་ནམ་ཟ་སྤྱོད་ཚོང་འབྲེལ་དང་ མ་རྩ་གཞི་བཙུགས་ཀྱི་གྲོས་འཛོམས་༢༠༢༤ དེ་ ཐིམ་ཕུག་ལུ་སྦེ་ འགོ་འདྲེན་འཐབ་ནི་ཨིནམ་ལས་ འབྲུག་གི་ ས་ཁམས་རིག་པ་དང་ སའི་དབྱིབས་ལུ་བརྟེན་པའི་ སོ་ནམ་ལས་སྡེ་གིས་ སྤུས་ཚད་ལྡན་པའི་ སོ་ནམ་ཐོན་སྐྱེད་དང་ གནས་ཚད་མཐོ་སུ་སྦེ་ བཟོ་རུང་བའི་ཐོན་སྐྱེད་འབད་ནིའི་འོས་འབབ་ཚུ་ གསལ་སྟོན་འབད་ནིའི་ གོ་སྐབས་ཅིག་ཨིན་པས།

སྤྱི་ཟླ་༥ པའི་ཚེས་༡༥ ལས་༡༩ ཚུན་ ཉིན་གྲངས་༥ འི་རིང་ ལས་རིམ་འགོ་འདྲེན་འཐབ་པའི་སྐབས་ སྲིད་བྱུས་བརྩམ་མི་དང་ འབྲེལ་གཏོགས་ཅན་གྱི་ཚོང་ལས་ དེ་ལས་ ཚོང་འབྲེལ་འཐབ་མི་ཚུ་གིས་ གོ་སྐབས་ལེན་ཏེ་ ཕྱིའི་རྒྱལ་ཁབ་ལས་ མ་རྩ་གཞི་བཙུགས་འབད་མི་དང་ ཟུང་ཕྱོགས་མཐུན་འབྲེལ་གོང་འཕེལ་དངུལ་ཁང་ དེ་ལས་ སྒེར་སྡེ་ལས་ མི་ངོམ་ཚུ་གིས་ བཅའ་མར་གཏོགས་མི་ཚུ་དང་ འབྲེལ་བ་འཐབ་སྟེ་ གོ་སྐབས་ཚུ་བཟོ་ཚུགས་ཟེར་ཨིན་པས།

སོ་ནམ་དང་སྒོ་ནོར་ལྷན་ཁག་ལས་ འགོ་དཔོན་ཚུ་དང་འཁྲིལཝ་ད་ སྤུས་ཚད་བསྒྱུར་བཅོས་ལུ་ གཙོ་བོར་བཏོན་པའི་ ཐབས་བྱུས་མ་རྩ་བཙུགས་མི་ཐོག་ལས་ འབྲུག་གིས་ རྒྱལ་ཡོངས་ཀྱི་ དཔལ་འབྱོར་གོང་འཕེལ་གཏང་ནི་དེ་ཨིན་ཟེར་ཨིན་པས།

ཞལ་འཛོམས་ཀྱི་ དམིགས་ཡུལ་དེ་ཡང་ མ་དངུལ་གྱི་ རྒྱབ་སྐྱོར་འབད་མིའི་ཐོག་ལས་ སྒེར་སྡེ་མ་རྩ་གཞི་བཙུགས་འབད་མི་དང་ ཁེ་གྱོང་ཡོད་མི་ཚོང་པ་ཚུ་གིས་ ཐོན་སྐྱེད་བསྒྱུར་བཅོས་དང་ ཐོན་སྐྱེད་འབད་ནི་ ཚོང་འབྲེལ་ དེ་ལས་ ཚོང་ཉོ་མི་ཚུ་གི་བར་ན་ འབྲེལ་མཐུན་ཐབས་ལམ་ཚུ་ དོན་སྨིན་ཅན་དང་ སྤུས་ཚད་ཅན་བཟོ་དགོཔ་ཨིན་ཟེར་ འགོ་དཔོན་ཚུ་གིས་ སླབ་ཨིན་པས།

གྲོས་འཛོམས་ནང་ གཞུང་གི་འགོ་དཔོན་དང་ རྒྱལ་སྤྱི་ལས་ ཚོང་འབྲེལ་དབུ་ཁྲིད་༥༥ དང་ མཐུན་འབྲེལ་གོང་འཕེལ་བཏང་མི་ མཉམ་འབྲེལ་བ་ ཞི་བའི་མི་སྡེ་ལས་ཚོགས་ཀྱི་མགྲིན་ཚབ་ མཁས་མཆོག་ ན་གཞོན་ངོ་ཚབ་ དེ་ལས་ མི་སྡེའི་ཁེ་གྱོང་པ་ཚུ་གིས་ སོ་ནམ་རིམ་ལུགས་ལུ་ གཙོ་རིམ་བཟུང་དགོཔ་ཨིན་པས།

འགོ་དཔོན་གྱིས་ སླབ་མིའི་ནང་ སྤྱི་ལོ་༢༠༢༤ གི་ འབྲུག་སོ་ནམ་ཚོང་ལས་དང་ མ་རྩ་གཞི་བཙུགས་ཀྱི་ གྲོས་འཛོམས་ཀྱི་དམིགས་གཏད་ངོ་མ་ར་ ཚོང་པ་དང་ཚོང་པའི་བར་ན་ མཐུན་འབྲེལ་བཟོ་ནི་དང་ ཚོང་པ་དང་ གཞུང་ མ་རྩ་གཞི་བཙུགས་འབད་མི་དང་ མཉམ་འབྲེལ་འབད་མི་ཚུ་གི་ མི་སྟོབས་གོང་འཕེལ་གཏང་ནི་དང་ འབྲུག་གི་ སོ་ནམ་ཐོན་སྐྱེད་ལེགས་བསྒྱུར་འབད་ནི་ སྲིད་བྱུས་བརྩམ་ནི་དང་ མ་རྩ་བཙུགས་འབད་མི་ཚུ་ལུ་ རྒྱབ་སྐྱོར་འབད་ནི་ དེ་ལས་ མཉམ་འབྲེལ་གོང་འཕེལ་འབད་མི་ཚུ་གིས་ རྒྱལ་ཡོངས་སོ་ནམ་ཐབས་བྱུས་ལག་ལེན་འཐབ་ནི་དང་ མ་རྩ་གཞི་བཙུགས་ཀྱི་ འཆར་གཞི་བཟོ་ནི་ལུ་ ཁེ་ཕན་འབྱུང་ཚུགས་ཟེར་ཨིན་པས།

འཆར་གཞི་༡༣ པའི་ནང་ སོ་ནམ་ལས་སྡེ་གིས་ ཐབས་བྱུས་གུ་ མ་རྩ་གཞི་བཙུགས་ཐོག་ལས་ རྒྱལ་ཁབ་ཀྱི་ དཔལ་འབྱོར་གོང་འཕེལ་ཡར་དྲག་གཏང་ཐབས་ལུ་ དམིགས་བསལ་གྱི་ གཙོ་རིམ་བསྒྲིགས་ཡོདཔ་ཨིན་པས།

སྤྱི་ལོ་༢༠༢༩ ལས་ དོན་སྨིན་ཅན་གྱི་ སོ་ནམ་ཐོན་སྐྱེད་འབད་ནི་དང་ ཚོང་འབྲེལ་རྒྱ་སྐྱེད་གཏང་ནི་ རིག་གསར་དང་ འཕྲུལ་རིག་ཐོག་ལས་ སོ་ནམ་ཐོན་སྐྱེད་ཡར་དྲག་གཏང་ནི་ཨིནམ་ད་ དེ་གིས་སྦེ་ ནང་འཁོད་ཐོན་སྐྱེད་ཡོངས་འབོར་ཐོག་ལས་ འོང་འབབ་ཡུ་ཨེསི་ཌོ་ལར་ས་ཡ་༦༠༠ བཟོ་ནིའི་ དམིགས་གཏད་ཨིན་པས།

ལས་རིམ་དེ་ སོ་ནམ་དང་སྒོ་ནོར་ལྷན་ཁག་གིས་ ཚོང་དང་བཟོ་གྲྭ་ ལཱ་གཡོག་ལྷན་ཁག་ འཛམ་གླིང་རྒྱལ་སྤྱིའི་ བཟའ་འཐུང་དང་སོ་ནམ་ལས་སྡེ་ ཡུ་རོ་པི་ཡན་ ཡུ་ནི་འོན་ དེ་ལས་ གཞུང་གི་ལས་སྡེ་དང་ འབྲུག་ཚོང་དང་བཟོ་གྲྭ་ཚོགས་སྡེ་ཚུ་ མཉམ་རུབ་ཐོག་ལས་ འགོ་འདྲེན་འཐབ་ཡོདཔ་ཨིན་པའི་གནས་ཚུལ།

བཀྲིས་ཕུན་ཚོགས།

༉ འབྲུག་རྒྱལ་གཞུང་གན་ལེན་བརྗེ་སོར་ལས་སྡེ་དང་གཅིག་ཁར་ ཐོ་བཀོད་འབད་དེ་ཡོད་པའི་ ཚོང་སྡེ་༡༨ ཀྱི་གྲས་ལས་༡༠ གྱིས་ སྤྱི་ལོ་༢༠༢༣ གྱི་དོན་ལུ་ བགོ་བཤའ་དང་ བགོ་བཤའི་ཁེ་འཐུས་ཚུ་ གསལ་བསྒྲགས་འབད་ཡོདཔ་ད་ དེ་ཡང་ སྤྱི་ལོ་༢༠༢༢ ཀྱི་ལོའི་དོན་ལུ་ ཚོང་སྡེ་༡༡ ཡོད་མི་དང་ཕྱདཔ་ད་ཨིན་པས།

དེ་འབདཝ་ད་ དུས་ཅི་ ཚོང་སྡེ་༨ ཀྱིས་ བགོ་བཤའ་དང་ བགོ་བཤའི་ཁེ་འཐུས་ཚུ་ བྱིན་ནི་ཨིན་ཟེར་ གསལ་བསྒྲགས་མ་འབདཝ་ཨིན་པས།

འདས་པའི་ལོ་ཚུ་ནང་ ནད་ཡམས་ཀོ་བིཌ་ལུ་བརྟེན་ རྩིས་ལོ་༢༠༢༠ ལུ་ ཚོང་སྡེ་༢ དང་ རྩིས་ལོ་༢༠༢༡ ལུ་ ཚོང་སྡེ་༥ གིས་ བགོ་བཤའ་དང་ བགོ་བཤའི་ཁེ་འཐུས་ཚུ་ བྱིན་ཡོདཔ་ཨིན་པས།

བགོ་བཤའ་དེ་ ཚོང་སྡེ་རང་སོའི་ ཁེ་སང་ངེས་ཏིག་ཐོབ་པའི་ལྷག་ལུས་དེ་ ཚོང་ལས་དང་གཅིག་ཁར་ བགོ་བཤའ་འཆང་སྤྱོད་འབད་མི་ཚུ་ལུ་ བགོ་བཤའ་རྐྱབ་ཞིནམ་ལས་ ཁེ་འཐུས་ཚུ་ བྱིན་དོ་ཡོདཔ་ཨིན་པས།

ལོ་རེ་ཆད་མེད་པར་ བགོ་བཤའ་དང་ བགོ་བཤའི་ཁེ་འཐུས་ཚུ་བྱིན་མི་ ཚོང་སྡེ་ལུ་ ཁེ་སང་འབོར་ཆེ་ཏོག་ཏོ་སྦེ་འོང་ནི་དང་ ཚོང་སྡེ་ལ་ལོ་ཅིག་གིས་ མ་འོངས་པའི་ཚོང་ལཱ་གི་དོན་ལུ་ ཁེ་སང་ཚུ་ མ་རྩ་ལུ་ བཙུགས་ཡོད་མི་འབད་བ་ཅིན་ ཁེ་འཐུས་དུམ་གྲ་ཅིག་ལས་བརྒལ་ བྱིན་མི་ཚུགས་དོ་ཡོདཔ་ཨིན་པས།

འབྲུག་གི་ཚོང་སྡེའི་བཅའ་ཁྲིམས་༢༠༡༦ ཅན་མ་དང་འཁྲིལ་བ་ཅིན་ ཐོ་བཀོད་འབད་མི་ ཚོང་སྡེ་ག་ར་གིས་ སྤྱི་ཟླ་༤ པ་མཇུག་བསྡུ་ཁམས་ཅིག་ཁར་ ཡོངས་ཁྱབ་ཞལ་འཛོམས་ འཚོགས་དགོཔ་ཨིན་ཟེར་ཨིན་པས།

སྤྱི་ལོ་༢༠༢༣ ཀྱི་ བགོ་བཤའི་ཁེ་འཐུས་བརྒྱ་ཆ་ལས་༡༠༠ བྱིན་མི་དེ་ འབྲུག་ཕི་རོ་ཨེ་ལོ་འེསི་ཚད་འཛིན་ཨིནམ་ད་ སྤྱི་ལོ་༢༠༢༢ ལུ་ བགོ་བཤའི་ཁེ་འཐུས་བརྒྱ་ཆ་༣༥༠ བྱིན་ཡོདཔ་ཨིན་པས།

གལ་སྲིད་ བགོ་བཤའ་འཆང་མི་ལུ་ བགོ་བཤའ་༡,༠༠༠ ཡོད་མི་ལུ་ བགོ་བཤའ་རེ་ལུ་ དངུལ་ཀྲམ་༡༠ ཡོད་པ་ཅིན་ དུས་ཅི་ བགོ་བཤའ་བརྒྱ་ཆ་༡༠༠ བྱིན་པ་ཅིན་ ཁོ་ལུ་ ཁེ་འཐུས་དངུལ་ཀྲམ་༡༠,༠༠༠ འཐོབ་ཚུགས་ནི་ཨིན་པས།

གཞན་དལ་གཞི་འབད་བ་ཅིན་ འབྲུག་ཕི་རོ་ཨེ་ལོ་འེསི་ཚད་འཛིན་གྱིས་ བགོ་བཤའ་འཆང་མི་ཚུ་ལུ་ ཁེ་འཐུས་ལེན་ནི་དང་ ཐོབ་བརྗོད་བཀོད་ནིའི་ ཚེས་གྲངས་སྔ་མ་དེ་ སྤྱི་ཟླ་༤ པའི་ཚེས་༡༠ ཨིན་རུང་ ཕར་འཕུལ་རྐྱབ་སྟེ་ སྤྱི་ཟླ་༤ པའི་ཚེས་༡༡ ལུ་ བཞག་ཡོདཔ་ཨིན་པས།

དེ་འབདཝ་ལས་ མ་རྩ་གཞི་བཙུགས་འབད་མི་ཚུ་གིས་ ཁེ་འཐུས་ལེན་ནི་དེ་ ཚོང་སྡེ་གིས་ གསལ་བསྒྲགས་འབད་མི་ དུས་ཚོད་དང་འཁྲིལ་ཏེ་ ལཱ་འབད་དགོཔ་ད་ གལ་སྲིད་ དུས་ཚོད་ཕྱིས་སོ་པ་ཅིན་ ཁེ་འཐུས་ཚུ་ མི་འཐོབ་ནི་ཨིན་པས།

འབྲུག་རྒྱལ་གཞུང་ཉེན་བཅོལ་ཚད་འཛིན་གྱིས་ མི་རེ་ལུ་ བགོ་བཤའི་ཁེ་འཐུས་བརྒྱ་ཆ་༤༢ བྱིན་མི་དེ་ བགོ་བཤའ་རེ་ལུ་ དངུལ་ཀྲམ་༤.༢ ཀྱི་རྩིས་ཨིན་པས།

དེ་འབདཝ་ད་ ཁེ་འཐུས་བརྒྱ་ཆ་༤༢ བྱིན་ནི་ཨིན་ཟེར་ གསལ་བསྒྲགས་འབད་མི་དེ་ འབྲུག་དངུལ་ལས་དབང་འཛིན་གྱིས་ ཆ་འཇོག་འབད་དགོ་ནི་དེ་གིས་ བསྒུག་དགོཔ་ཐོན་ཡོདཔ་ཨིན་པས།

སྤྱི་ལོ་༢༠༢༢ ལུ་ འབྲུག་རྒྱལ་གཞུང་ཉེན་བཅོལ་ཚད་འཛིན་གྱིས་ བགོ་བཤའི་ཁེ་འཐུས་ཚད་གཞི་༡:༧ དང་ སྤྱི་ལོ་༢༠༡༧ ལུ་ ངོ་རྐྱང་ལུ་ བགོ་བཤའི་ཁེ་འཐུས་བརྒྱ་ཆ་༡༢.༦ རེ་སྦེ་ བྱིན་ཡོདཔ་ཨིན་པས།

འབྲུག་ཝང་ཨེ་ལོ་འེསི་ཚད་འཛིན་གྱིས་ བགོ་བཤའི་ཁེ་འཐུས་བརྒྱ་ཆ་༣༠ དང་ ངོ་རྐྱང་ལུ་ དངུལ་ཀྲམ་༣ བྱིན་ཡོདཔ་ད་ སྤྱི་ལོ་༢༠༢༢ ལུ་ མི་རེ་ལུ་ བགོ་བཤའི་ཁེ་འཐུས་བརྒྱ་ཆ་༡༠ རེ་ བྱིན་ཡོདཔ་ཨིན་པས།

འབྲུག་ཉེན་བཅོལ་ཚད་ཀྱིས་ བགོ་བཤའི་ཁེ་འཐུས་བརྒྱ་ཆ་༢༡ དང་ ཡང་ན་ ངོ་རྐྱང་རེ་ལུ་ དངུལ་ཀྲམ་༢.༡ སྦེ་ རྩིས་ལོ་༢༠༢༣ ལུ་ བྱིན་ཡོདཔ་ད་ བགོ་བཤའ་འཆང་མི་ལུ་ བརྒྱ་ཆ་༢༠ དང་ ཁེ་འཐུས་དངུལ་ཀྲམ་༡:༡ སྦེ་ སྤྱི་ལོ་༢༠༢༢ ལུ་ ཁེ་འཐུས་བྱིན་ཡོདཔ་ཨིན་པས།

འབྲུག་རྒྱལ་ཡོངས་དངུལ་ཁང་གིས་ བགོ་བཤའི་ཁེ་འཐུས་བརྒྱ་ཆ་༡༥.༤ དང་ འབྲུག་པཱན་ཇབ་དངུལ་ཁང་གིས་ བརྒྱ་ཆ་༡༥ བྱིན་ཡོདཔ་སྦེ་ གསལ་བསྒྲགས་འབད་ཡོདཔ་ད་ འབྲུག་རྒྱལ་ཡོངས་དངུལ་ཁང་གིས་ བགོ་བཤའ་རེ་ལུ་ དངུལ་ཀྲམ་༡.༥༤ དང་ འབྲུག་པཱན་ཇབ་དངུལ་ཁང་གིས་ བགོ་བཤའ་རེ་ལུ་ དངུལ་ཀྲམ་༡.༥ སྦེ་ བྱིན་ཡོདཔ་ཨིན་པས།

འབྲུག་རྒྱལ་ཡོངས་དངུལ་ཁང་གིས་ ཐོ་བཀོད་འབད་མི་ དུས་ཚོད་དེ་ སྤྱི་ཟླ་༤ པའི་ཚེས་༡༡ དང་ ཧེ་མའི་ ཚེས་གྲངས་དེ་ སྤྱི་ཟླ་༤ པའི་ཚེས་༡༠ དང་ འབྲུག་པཱན་ཇབ་དངུལ་ཁང་གི་ ཐོ་བཀོད་དུས་ཚོད་ སྤྱི་ཟླ་༤ པའི་ཚེས་༣༠ དང་ ཧེ་མའི་ཚེས་གྲངས་དེ་ སྤྱི་ཟླ་༤ པའི་ཚེས་༢༩ ཨིན་པས།

དེ་བཟུམ་སྦེ་ ཇི་ཨའེ་སི་-བྷུ་ཊཱན་བསྐྱར་ལོག་ཉེན་བཅོལ་ཚོང་ལས་ཚད་ཀྱིས་ བགོ་བཤའི་ཁེ་འཐུས་བརྒྱ་ཆ་༡༠ བྱིན་མི་ལུ་ བགོ་བཤའ་རེ་ལུ་ དངུལ་ཀྲམ་༡ རེ་གི་རྩིས་ཨིནམ་ད་ ཀུན་གསལ་ལས་འཛིན་ཚད་ཀྱིས་ བགོ་བཤའི་ཁེ་འཐུས་བརྒྱ་ཆ་༥ དང་ བགོ་བཤའ་རེ་ལུ་ དངུལ་ཀྲམ་.༥༠ རེ་གནས་ཡོདཔ་ཨིན་པས།

དུས་ཅི་ བགོ་བཤའ་བྱིན་ནི་ཨིན་ཟེར་ གསལ་བསྒྲགས་མ་འབད་མི་ ཚོང་སྡེ་ཚུ་ཡང་ བཀྲིས་དངུལ་ཁང་དང་ ཨིསི་ཊེཊ་ ཚོང་ལས་ཚད་འཛིན་༢ ཨིན་རུང་ བགོ་བཤའ་༥ ལུ་ བགོ་བཤའ་འཆང་མི་ཚུ་གིས་ བཀྲིས་དངུལ་ཁང་ལས་ ཁེ་འཐུས་རེ་འཐོབ་ནི་དང་ ཨིསི་ཊེཊ་ ཚོང་ལས་ཚད་འཛིན་ལས་ བགོ་བཤའ་༢ ལུ་ བགོ་བཤའ་འཆང་མི་ཚུ་གིས་ ཁེ་འཐུས་རེ་འཐོབ་ཚུགས་ནི་ཨིན་པས།

སྤྱི་ལོ་༢༠༢༢ ལུ་ བཀྲིས་དངུལ་ཁང་གིས་ བགོ་བཤའ་བརྒྱ་ཆ་༩ བྱིན་པའི་ཁར་ བགོ་བཤའ་འཆང་མི་ལུ་ བགོ་བཤའ་༡༠ ཡོད་མི་ལུ་ ཚོང་སྡེ་ཁ་ཐུག་ལས་ ཁེ་འཐུས་༡ བྱིན་ཡོདཔ་ད་ ཨིསི་ཊེཊ་ ཚོང་ལས་ཚད་འཛིན་གྱིས་ བགོ་བཤའ་བརྒྱ་ཆ་༢༥ བྱིན་ཡོདཔ་ཨིན་པས།

ཨིན་རུང་ བགོ་བཤའ་བྱིན་མ་ཚུགས་མི་ ཚོང་ལས་སྡེ་ཚན་༨ ཡོདཔ་ད་ དེ་ཚུ་ཡང་ འབྲུག་བཀོད་ཚོགས་ཐོན་སྐྱེད་དང་ བྷུ་ཊཱན་ཀར་བེགསི་དང་ ཀེ་མི་ཀཱལསི་ཚད་འཛིན་ བྷུ་ཊཱན་པོ་ལི་མརསི་ཚད་འཛིན་ འབྲུག་ལྟ་བཤལ་ལས་འཛིན་ཚད་ དཔལ་ལྡན་རྩི་ས་དབང་འཛིན་ ཤེར་ཟ་ བེན་ཅརསི་ཚད་འཛིན་ འབྲུག་ཕི་རོ་ ཨེ་ལོའི་ དེ་ལས་ དུང་སམ་ པོ་ལི་མརསི་ཚད་ཚུ་ཨིན་པས།

བགོ་བཤའི་ཁེ་འཐུས་ཚུ་ཡང་ ཐད་ཀར་དུ་ བགོ་བཤའ་འཆང་མི་ཚུ་གི་ རྩིས་ཁྲ་ནང་ འབྲུག་རྒྱལ་གཞུང་གན་ལེན་བརྗེ་སོར་ལས་སྡེའི་ རིམ་ལུགས་བརྒྱུད་དེ་ བཙུགས་འོང་ཟེར་ཨིན་པས།

དེ་འབདཝ་ལས་ བགོ་བཤའ་འཆང་མི་ཚུ་གིས་ ཞིབ་དཔྱད་འབད་ནི་དང་ ནོར་བཅོས་མེད་པར་བཟོ་སྟེ་ ཁོང་རའེ་ རྩིས་ཁྲ་ཚུ་ ཁ་གསལ་སྦེ་བཙུགས་དགོཔ་མ་ཚད་ ངོ་སྤྲོད་ལག་ཁྱེར་ཨང་ཚུ་ བྱིན་དགོཔ་ཨིན་པས།

ད་ལྟོ་ཚུན་ བགོ་བཤའི་ཁེ་འཐུས་ཚུ་བྱིན་རུང་ བགོ་བཤའ་འཆང་མི་ཚུ་གིས་ མ་ལེན་པར་ཡོད་པ་ཅིན་ རྩིས་བསྡོམས་རྐྱབ་སྟེ་ བྱིན་ནི་ཨིན་པའི་གནས་ཚུལ།

Much to the satisfaction and happiness of those in the tourism and allied businesses, 2024 started on a good note, with tourist arrivals almost doubling in the first quarter. Figures shared show that April alone received nearly as many tourists as in the first three months of 2023.

While who brought in the tourists depends on a lot of factors including the agent’s network,  marketing strategies and commissions offered, the numbers are huge. Those in the business say a group of four tourists spending a week in Bhutan at the old SDF of USD 65 could see them through a year. This year those in the business are all smiles, with one tour agent bringing in 70 tourists in April alone.

The arrivals resulted in a revenue of USD13 million from the revised sustainable development fee. Although it is not specified in the report, we can safely surmise and agents agree that the 50 percent reduction in the SDF for dollar-paying has resulted in the record numbers.  It is still the tourist season in Bhutan.  In fact, it is said that there is no off-season in Bhutan, meaning tourists visit all through the year.

What is consistently noticeable  in the arrivals is the share from neighbouring India. About 58 percent or 13,925 tourists were from India alone. This is a significant shift and a welcome one considering the changes in policies. The SDF of Nu 1,200 per day per tourist from India, Nu 4,500 fee for vehicles or bikers, many thought would close the tap. In fact, the revised fee has made Bhutan an exclusive destination for many Indians.

The number will keep increasing as there is a burgeoning upper and middle class Indians with huge disposable income. Lest we forget, there are thousands of tourists from India staying in the seven-star hotels paying more than USD1,000 a day.

This could be also down to the initiatives of the past government and tour agents both from India and Bhutan, who  immediately after the border opening, started looking for solutions to improve tourism.  A group of tour operators last spring took initiatives to committed to promote Bhutan as a quality tourism destination by bringing quality tourists.  They appreciated the policy and wanted to help Bhutan fulfill the policy of high-value, low-volume tourism. It seems, it worked.

While the increase in visitors is encouraging even with the revised SDF, what can Bhutan offer to attract more conscious tourists who respect the sustainable development  policies of the country?

Going by reports in the Indian media, the online travel agency MakeMyTrip has announced a new exclusive charter service between Mumbai and Bhutan. This service is part of its holiday packages. If we are among the five most-searched emerging destinations, with a year-on-year increase of more than 200 percent, the numbers could increase. The initiatives are not only for marketing. It is to fill the gap of services. For instance, the airfare, many say is expensive, to the extent that chartering one, perhaps is more reasonable. The other services that raise eyebrows are the cost of simple essential services like a tourist SIM card, and clean public toilets.

Staff reporter 

Her Majesty Gyalyum Ashi Kesang Choden Wangchuck yesterday, granted a generous donation of Nu 10 million to the Ministry of Health.

The donation was received by the Health Minister Tandin Wangchuk.

According to the press release from the health ministry, the donated funds will be used to equip the new surgical Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at the Jigme Dorji Wangchuck National Referral Hospital (JDWNRH) with high-end medical equipment.

The 12-bedded surgical ICU and High Dependency Unit (HDU) are proposed to be established after the Department of Pediatrics and the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology are shifted to the newly inaugurated Gyaltsuen Jetsun Pema Wangchuck Mother and Child Hospital in the coming months, it added.

Currently, the JDWNRH has only 10 beds in the Adult ICU and 8 beds in the HDU, where medical and surgical cases needing intensive care are admitted.

With the expansion in the specialty and range of surgical services at the hospital, more complicated cases are being taken up, and the demand for ICU care has significantly increased.

The press release also added that the new surgical ICU is expected to enhance the delivery of intensive care to patients who have undergone complex surgical procedures and those who need it the most.

Furthermore, the new surgical ICU will be established next to the operation theater to ease patient transfer.

“The generous contribution from Her Majesty serves as a poignant display of compassion among numerous initiatives and acts of kindness in the health sector,” Health Minister, Tandin Wangchuk said. “Throughout the past decades, Her Majesty has consistently upheld a steadfast commitment to safeguarding the health and wellbeing of Bhutanese from all walks of life, embodying a role of dedicated patronage and philanthropy.”