Two years back, however, the situation here was no different than the capital city where load shedding extends to 14 hours a day. In those days, these hydro powers did exist but the locals were denied benefits from them. Stakeholders confronted such decision for the concerned authorities. They staged staged demonstration and also gheraued Nepal Electricity Authority's (NEA) office demanding 'bright villages'. These protests changed their daily lives.
Following the protests, the administration removed its power cut routine and though power cut existed it was sporadic and irregular. Within two months of the protest, such power cut hours came down to around one or two hours. And coming now, they have almost forgotten the hassles of power cut. With no need for load shedding, electricity in the area is not available only if there is any technical disturbance, claims Ilam branch of the NEA.
"Hard and fast load shedding rule is not practical for a district which has been running scores of small to big hydro power station," he said adding that "The only time there is power cut is during the peak hours as low power transformers give in to excess load, or else there's no load shedding here," he said. At the most, power is cut off for an hour or two when transformers dysfunction, he said. "But we are trying hard for getting new transformers and this will improve the situation."
The district's four hydro projects, Sanima Mai, Puwakhola, Maikhola and Joshi Hydropower that generate a total of 35.7 megawatt electricity in peak season. This capacity gets down to 16.5 megawatt during winter season due to lack of water, NEA branch informed. This power is connected to the national power line and distributed. Not all the areas of Mechi zone have connection with NEA's power line. According to the branch office, of the 43 VDCs and three municipalities of Ilam which enjoy uninterrupted power supply, only Pyang, Lumde and Fuyetappa VDCs are the one that remain unconnected with NEA's main line.
Power supply in Panchthar district is also encouraging. Power cut goes on for no more than one to two hours. Only a few villages here too are still deprived of connectivity with the NEA power line. However, situation in Taplegunj is not that good compared to other districts in the zone. Due to lack of connectivity with the NEA electricity grid, most residents in the district have been still deprived of electricity connection. NEA officials at the Ilam branch claim that the efforts to increase accessibility of residents to electricity are underway.
Local needs, local production
When one has resources and the will power to overcome crisis, changing identity for the better is not impossible. Maijhuwa village in Ilam comes true to this statement. The village has shaped a distinct identity for it by developing micro hydropower stations that make it self reliant for power.
Thirty kilometers from the district headquarters, the village was considered remote as it lacked road connectivity. But nowadays, the village is connected to the road network but is also famous for its micro hydropower stations. And this was possible because of the efforts it residents put together.
Complimented by various development organizations, Maijhuwa locals came together to end the scarcity of electricity in their village. These days their houses are lit with the hydropower generated from their own hydropower. Youths from the village, most of who are employed in the British and Indian army worked jointly for making this happen.
The electricity generated by the Mewa River micro hydropower provides electricity to around 150 households in the area. There are other mini hydro projects too, which covers the need of other houses. "It became possible due to the initiative of the locals. Waiting for the government to do everything would have us still living in darkness," said a local Tularam Gurung adding, "If you want to improve your life, you have to work on personally and we proved this." He claimed that living in villages and towns is far better than living in cities that are suffering acute power crunch.
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