February 7, 2010: (Sibsu/Samtse)The relocation of Sibsu town at Belboti, about five kilometers away from the old town, was first proposed in 1992. But even after 18 long years, the town is stuck at its old place. And there are no signs of the town moving to the proposed location anytime soon.

Land tax and commercial tax have not been collected from about 50 residents for the past 18 years. Residents say this is because they were told that they may have to shift the town any time and that taxes would be levied once they were settled at the new town.

The new town never happened. The tax officials never turned up. And Sibsu remained where it was without any town planning development in the community.

The residents say by not collecting the taxes and without any infrastructural development in their town, the government is neglecting them.

Sibsu town was first established in 1948 and since then it has not changed much. The existing town has only about 8.85 acres of land and therefore town expansion cannot be done unless some nearby private land is used for expansion.

The actual area of land for the proposed new town planning at Belboti was about 108 acres. But now, there are hardly 2 acres left for the new town. This only means the possibility of shifting the town is thin. And the resident’s dream will remain just a dream.

Out of 108 acres, about 90 acres have been given to the Royal Bhutan Army, Wing V. The other five acres have been used for the construction of a dratshang for the monk body. From the remaining portion of land, about two acres were acquired by RNR officials and two more acres were allotted to the food corporation of Bhutan.

“Now we have about 2 acres only for the town planning which is insufficient,” said the Sibsu gup, Ranjit Gurung. Moreover, the new town plan is mapped near the RBA center which is not appropriate.

Residents of Sibsu, once desperate to shift the town, now feel they would prefer to have the town plan at the existing town. People say that Belboti is bit closer to the Indo-Bhutan border and for security reasons, they would like to have the town at Sibsu.

The main reason why the people are not willing to shift the town is because they feel that Indians from across the Jitti border would come and trade their goods at cheaper cost, taking away the breads of local businessmen.

“Traders in Phuentsholing, Samtse, Gelephu and Samdrup Jongkhar are in anguish as our people buy the goods from nearby Indian towns and we don’t want that to happen to us,” said one of the businessmen. He also said that they are willing to shift the town in interior regions rather than going to the border places.

Even the Sunday market at Belbote is mostly occupied by Indian traders. It is not just business competition between local traders and Indians but it is a revenue outflow and people say that it will happen if we shift the town at Belbote, he added.

In this regard, members of the business community had also put up a petition to the Ministry of Works and Human Settlement about their reluctance to shift the town. Till now, there has been no response from the ministry.

Sibsu dungpa, Rinchen Namgyal, said that Sibsu has enough space for town planning but may have to invest huge amount for infrastructural development as most of the land are unused. The dungpa also said that the RBA outpost at Sibsu will be relocated to Belboti and a primary school will be established at the present RBA camp if government approves to establish the town at Sibsu.

Regarding the uncollected taxes from the residents, the dungpa, clarified that the people had paid about Nu 90 chetrum as their taxes since 1958 but in 1992, the finance ministry had issued a notice not to collect any taxes from those residents who have to shift any time soon.