The recent flash floods hit Haa quite hard. A house was washed away, several houses were submerged, bridges were swept away, and many farmers have lost their entire crop. And we know very little about the extent of damage in Sombaykha and Gakiling simply because no one from these gewogs has made it to the [...]
I begin another visit to my constituency today. In particular, I’ll visit Gakiling. And from there head to Dumtoe and Dorokha in Samtse. Most families from Samar gewog, including mine, make this journey every year, moving their cattle from the high mountains in Haa to the lowlands in Samtse each winter. This difficult journey has [...]
At about 1:30 AM on 14th March, a fire raged through two adjoining houses in Kajana in Haa. The first house belonged to Aum Dema, aged 60. Aum Dema wasn’t home during the fire – she was at her daughter’s house because she didn’t want to spend the night alone. She would have had to [...]
A week ago, strong winds damaged 20 houses in Haa, most of them in Katsho. The storm had blown off most of their roofs. I’m in Haa. And I was delighted to see that most of the houses have already been repaired. Wind storms are not uncommon in Haa. Just last year several houses had [...]
In “Weather dependent” I’d celebrated the snowfall, without which our farmers wouldn’t be able to plant potatoes. But I’d also agonized that too much snow could be bad for potato cultivation. These mixed emotions prompted one Anonymous to comment: “You complain when there is no snow and complain again when there is snow. Nothing new [...]
I’m back. And I’m sorry for the confusion my last entry created. Anonymous Migmar wondered how I’d posted “Celebrating women” with “No road, no electricity and no telephone” in the two gewogs I was visiting. So he asked: “… are you back in Thimphu or is someone from your office upgrading your blog… he..he Explain.” [...]
I’m off to my constituency. We’ll walk everyday, some days for more than 12 hours, to visit some 18 villages in Gakiling and Sombaykha. In these remote gewogs live some of our poorest people. I’m looking forward to meeting our people: to give them my report on the second session of the National Assembly; to [...]
While traveling to Haa today, I saw several farmers planting potatoes. Some were done. Others, like this couple in Jabana, were just beginning to prepare their field. But all of them expect a good crop – the rains came just in time.
Yes! It snowed in Haa. And the land is now moist. So our farmers are working their fields in earnest, preparing them to plant potatoes. Before the recent snow and rain, our farmers could not plough their fields – the earth was too hard, and much of the dry top soil would have been lost [...]
Well it didn’t snow last night. And it didn’t rain enough. But it’s still overcast. And I’m hopeful. Part of my excitement yesterday was because I was sure it would snow in my village, which, at about 2800 m, is higher than Thimphu. But it didn’t snow there either. The light drizzle was barely enough [...]
Tshering Tobgay is a Member of Parliament representing Sombaykha Constitutency in Haa. He is the Leader of the Opposition Party in the National Assembly of Bhutan.
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