The 35KW hydropower plant, which used to fuel the VDC, has not been repaired due to the lack of budget ever since it broke down at the end of June.
The project was constructed a decade ago with the joint initiative of the local residents and Alternative Power Promotion Center, Baglung District Development Committee, and Dhaulagiri Community Resource Development Center (DCRC) at a cost of Rs 7 million. [break]
“Whenever there is a mechanical problem in the plant, we call upon the local stakeholders to chip in money to repair it,” chairperson of the project Tek Bahadur Thapa said. “We have already spent Rs 2,00,000 for the maintenance and we need more money.”
Thapa added that they were approaching potential donors as this time around they also have to repair the generator which has been frequently malfunctioning.
Project Secretary Padam Thapa said that the locals would have breathed a sigh of relief had the government connected their village to the national transmission grid. “We have been repeatedly urging for an 11 KVM transmission line, but the government seems to be least concerned about it,” he added.
Had the machineries in the project been insured against damage, the stakeholders would not have to worry about the maintenance cost, said Ganga Acharya, a sub-engineer at DCRC.
DCRC Chairperson Ishwar Lal Rajbhandari said that now the onus lies with the government to fix the problem since it did not pay attention to their repeated request to insure the machineries.
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