Five years ago Karki started to distribute water to people suffering from the sweltering heat in district headquarter Tansen during the summers. This drew huge crowd and the people who were in the need of water began paying him voluntarily.[break]
"They were even happy to pay Rs 25 per bucket of water. However, some people looked down on me, calling names as ´water seller´," said Karki. Some people misbehaved with him as selling water for gain is regarded as a dishonorable deed in Hindu religion.
The profession thrived and soon he was distributing water from 14 water tankers in the Tansen. "During that time I thought how profitable it would be if we could we produce fuel (petrol and disel) just like we collect water from our rivers," Karki opined.
When he saw local people burning the jatropha seeds , Karki started experimenting to see if the Jatropha oil could run vehicles. In front of local leaders and journalist he then successfully showed that the oil he produced could operate vehicle on bio energy. In yet another experiment, Karki was successful to process oil from gum obtained from pine tree and was able to run a motorcycle. His experiment hit the headline of the national dailies and gave him international exposure.
Enthused with his own finding and success in the bio energy, Karki established Bhairab Darshan Energy Promotion Center (BDEPC), which was successful to organised rally of vehicles runing on bio fuel to promote alternative energy in the capital. The rally was participated by the the then forest minister Kiran Gurung. However government remain apathetic to Karki´s efforts. "I could not start the campaign for the bio-fuel due to lack of government initiatives in the sector", he said adding, "I fulfilled my duties by proving the possibility of bio-fuel in the country. It is up to government to take the campaign forward."
Besides, Karki has started professional mushroom farming earing more than Rs 1 million annually and is planning to develop his village as a tourist spot. He is happy to train new farmers and student who come to visit his farm and is hopeful that the government would one day recognize his contribution in the bio energy sector.
Karki, who has only received lower secondary level formal education, works in his farm and has employed 10 local people. Despite his farming business, Karki is engaged in many social service activities. He sometime goes on picnic with children with impaired eyesight and sometime he is found joining hands with traffic police raising public awareness about the road safety. "I really feel happy to support the needy," he says.
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