Nichula geog in Dagana dzongkhag is one of the remotest geogs in the kingdom. For most of the year, it remains cut off from rest of the Kingdom by the swelling Sunkosh River. There is no bridge and motorable road connecting the geog is a distant dream. People including officials use rafts or boats to commute to the village. Things are however set to change for the better with the construction of a suspension bridge about to begin.
Crossing this huge body of water using the services of the rafts is not for the faint hearted. It is a risky business especially during the summer when the river swells ominously. So before the Monsoon begins, residents travel to Lhamoizingkha to buy stocks of rice, cooking oil, and other essential items.
Even at this time of the year life is really pathetic and wretched for the people of Nichula especially when they fall sick. Those sick people have to be ferried in this boat which is even more risky. And if they fall sick in the summer they have to carry the sick all the way till Zamdar Ferrying point some three hours walk from the Geog center, near Assam boarder to reach them at Lhamoizingkha BHU.
Dzongkhag officials who have to travel to Nichula also use the rafts. In these pictures, we see the Dzongkhag Education Officer on his way to Nichula holding onto the raft for his life.
The good news is that people will not have to risk their life traveling across the Sunkosh River. A suspension bridge will soon be built over the river. A suitable site has already been identified at Wurdung village- about three hours walk towards the Dungkhag from the Geog centre.
Engineers said the construction will begin soon. The geog will also get a motorable bridge across the river once the 4045 MW Sunkosh power project begins in Karmaling under Deorali geog. It is expected to start sometime in the second or third year of the current plan.
Source: BBS