Gasa Tsachu
Just when visitors to Gasa tsachu (hot
springs) were starting to increase, with road access till Geza, and
electricity, the hot spring itself has gone under. The healing waters of the country’s
most famous hot spring now flow under the Mochu river, which has taken a new
course after the May 26 flood that completely washed away the five soaking
ponds and the VIP bathhouse built around the spring.
The flood also washed away a canopy, a
stable, an outreach clinic (ORC) and attached room, shops and public toilets,
according to the tsachu caretaker, Dago. All that remains is the suspension
bridge across the Mochu and the pungent smelling sinusitis cure holes located a
few metres from the tsachu area.
The tsachu is also an important source
of cash income and, with it gone, the Gasaps are feeling the pinch. A
businesswoman, who runs a restaurant at the junction of the trail towards Gasa
dzong and the tsachu, told Kuensel that her sales have gone down from Nu 1,500
a day to about Nu 500 a day.
The locals have attempted to restore
the tsachu. Three weeks after the flood, a few people from Gasa and the tsachu
caretakers made temporary ponds and soaked in them. “A monk advised us to put
sand in sacks and make temporary ponds,” said caretaker Dago. But they got
washed away that same night.
With the rains raising the level of
the river locating the source of the hot spring has become risky. Landslides
were taking place in the tsachu area when Kuensel visited on July 9.
People are using a temporary wooden
ladder and a thin wire to go downstream and collect the tsachu water.
The flood still haunts the tsachu
caretakers. “Whenever it rains, I hear sounds similar to the one I heard on May
26,” said Lhamo, 60, who worked as the neyda (one, who makes offering to the
local deities). The spring has also been a traditional source of healing for
the people of Gasa. Now they cannot do that anymore.
Gasa dzongrab Karma Rinchen told
Kuensel that dzongkhag officials had located all the five hot spring sources
near the riverbank, but with the river swollen all of them were under the river
now.
“Our immediate concern is to least
come up with temporary ponds, so that people can come and soak,” dzongrab Karma
Rinchen said. “Retrieval may be possible only after the monsoon.”
The dzongkhag administration is
planning to divert the river to its original course and build river protection
walls. Dzongkhag officials have tried building embankments and walls to divert
the river.
“We want people to come to the tsachu
this winter so that Gasa residents aren’t deprived of their livelihood,” the
dzongrab said.
Dzongkhag officials hope the
government will take care of the permanent restoration. “Land should be
reclaimed and huge protections walls built to restore the area,” said an
official.
