January 15:  Approximately 5,000 households are currently living without electricity, plunging them into darkness in Mugu district. This power shortage is particularly affecting students and hindering their educational pursuits.

The affected households resort to alternative means of lighting, relying on solar lamps and traditional methods such as burning dry pine splinters (diyalo). This makeshift approach, however, falls short in addressing the broader challenges faced by these communities.

The lack of electricity poses additional problems for the residents as well. Charging mobile phones and operating basic electrical appliances have become daunting tasks, and the absence of power is also impeding industrial activities.

In Chhayanath Rara Municipality, one thousand out of 2,546 households lack electricity. Similarly, all 3,651 households in Khatyad rural municipality find themselves dependent on sporadic solar lamps and the traditional 'diyalo' for lighting.

The Birabagar Hydroelectricity Project, initially launched with the ambitious aim of providing electricity to all households in the rural municipality, has been in a state of limbo for the past five years, exacerbating the problem.

Even in Soru rural municipality, where a 60-kilowatt capacity solar power plant has been installed at Sorukot, the rural municipality headquarters, power remains insufficient to meet the community's needs.

Furthermore, the extension of the national transmission line to Gamgadhi, the district headquarters, on September 11, 2023, has not resolved the issue, with locals expressing dissatisfaction due to unreliable power supply. (RSS)