Locals elated as West Seti hydropower project included in budget

DOTI: Local people have been elated over the inclusion of the 750 MW West Seti Hydropower project in the budget estimates for Fiscal Year 2020/21.

The project is to be constructed at Talara in the border of Bajhang, Baitedi and Doti districts in the Far-west.

“The government has said West Seti would be continued through its budget statement, hope it is not limited in the budget only, and work begins soon,” said DB Dhami, a local resident of ward no. 8 in Shikhar municipality.

Locals believe that the West Seti project could help bring prosperity to the people of the entire Far west region. “If only the West Seti project is completed, nothing else has to be done for the prosperity of the far west,” said Prem Bahadur Balayar of the same municipality.

The project has been discussed since the past three decades but nothing substantial has been done so far. It is included in the budget every year, and hence there is no ground to be much hopeful, said another local Dil Bahadur Singh.

Some locals also vented ire against the local leaders, who they accuse of playing politics in the name of the project but not seriously working to materialize it.

“The people should no longer be cheated in the name of the West seti project, it must now be completed at any cost,” said Tek Bahadur Singh, who lives at the construction site of the proposed project. RSS