His Majesty’s visits to Semjong and Guma Water Project Sites
15 February 2021:
His Majesty The King arrived in Thimphu today from Tsirang, after granting an Audience to the 44th Batch De-suups in Tencholing on the way.
While in Tsirang, His Majesty visited the worksites where work is ongoing to build infrastructure to supply irrigation and drinking water to the people of Dangreygang Chiwog, at Semjong.
His Majesty granted an Audience to the Dzongkhag COVID-19 task force in Tsirang yesterday, before arriving to Semjong in the evening. His Majesty spent the evening, which was the 10th Anniversary of De-suung Raising Day, with the De-suups who are working on the Semjong Water Project site, and spent the night in the gewog.
Semjong is the site of the second pilot Water Project under the De-suung National Service Progamme, which commenced on 25th November. 45 Desuups are working on the project, together with Dzongkhag engineers and MoAF. The project will include watershed conservation, construction of large reservoir tank for dry land irrigation, piloting micro-irrigation technologies such as drips and sprinklers, automation of the micro-irrigation system, and improved technology for crop production.
The water projects under De-suung National Service was initiated in response to His Majesty’s Command in September 2020, that there must be opportunities created for Bhutanese youth to participate in worthwhile nationwide projects which would be of benefit to the people for posterity. Subsequent De-suung Training Programmes included a specialized water resource management component, and young De-suups from the 42nd batch onwards were encouraged to join the projects.
“I am very proud to be a part of the Water Project at Semjong. Our work today will benefit the people of this community for generations to come, by improving access to water for drinking and irrigation, in turn increasing productivity. This will mean improved income, and contribute to national food security and even better quality food for national consumption,” said De-suup Nakul Mishra, who is one of the De-suups working at the Project.
Four other pilot Water projects are underway in Guma Gewog in Punakha, Saling Gewog in Mongar, Langthel Gewog in Trongsa and Geling Gewog in Chhukha. His Majesty The King visited the Guma Water Project Site during the Losar holidays, and granted Audience to the 70 De-suups working there. The Project at Guma, the first pilot project, is expected to benefit over 1800 people in Phulingsoom, Changyuel Thara Tashijong, and Docha Ritsa, by making drinking water accessible to 258 households. The De-suups in Guma are working on building an intake structure, two transmission lines, and two reservoirs.
De-suung is working with the relevant agencies of the Royal Government to start a series of similar projects across the country. Three more projects in Paro, Dagana and Pema Gatshel Dzongkhag are expected to start by the end of March, 2021.
