KATHMANDU: Until a few years ago, 72 percent of the people of Karnali did not have access to electricity.
The situation has slightly improved with the building of some small micro-hydropower and solar energy projects with the formation of province and local level governments. But still, 67 percent of Karnali folks have no access to electricity.
Five, out of ten districts, in Karnali have been connected to the national grid. These districts are Surkhet, Dailekh, Salyan, Jajarkot, and Rukum (West).
It means Jumla, Kalikot, Mugu, Humla, and Dolpa are yet to be connected with the national grid. Jumla civil society chair Raj Bahadur Mahat said now they have lost their hope to have access to the national grid.
Despite abundant sources for hydropower production, a large section of the Karnali folks is forced to live in dark. As Mahat complained, the Federal government was untouched by the pains and hardships of the people of upper Karnali.
Jumla witnesses a power outage of over 15 hours a day. Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) Jumla chief Gaurab Pandey said now power production has gone down and this is also the reason behind the increased load-shedding hours in the district.
”The current power generation is not sufficient to meet the demand and we have tried to continue power supply through the use of a generator.”
As he said, poles have been already installed for the extension of the national grid in the district and it would be happening soon if efforts were made from the political level.
Karnali is home to a 1.75 million population and around 33 percent or just 561 thousand have access to power supplied by the national grid.
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