KATHMANDU, Sept 17: The government of Nepal (GoN) is in the process of acquiring over several thousand acres for its hydro-power project. The district administration office of Jajarkot had taken out a press release and was in the process of negotiating to 3861 landowners, sending out information and initiating communication with them. It will have a direct impact on over 4000 families that are living in the area where the Nalgadh Hydro Power plant will be set up.

The families that will have to give up their land in order for this project to commence will be receiving a compensation package as listed in the constitution.

According to the press release by the local administration of Jajarkot, names of landowners, and the details regarding the possession of land were openly listed. It will be a transparent process and the local administration is working toward starting the project soon.

The entire process will go in accordance with the law, and article 7(2) of their local body law states that the government can acquire land for a business, development project or setting up a factory for gainful employment, while at the same time providing necessary compensation for the same.

(Picture Source: Nalgadh Hydropower Project)

Nalgadh Hydropower Project Reservoir will acquire land that is less than 1590 meters which will submerge once the project is underway. From the river Bheri and its tributary Nalsayagu, water collected in the reservoir will be utilized to generate hydropower.

According to the project plan, the reservoir will be 571 km, while the dam will be 200 meters in height. There will be a 112 km transmission line, and the target is generating 417 megawatts. The electricity generated will be then added to the national grid.

The project was prepared in 2012 and had received over 731 million US dollars, but after 7 years the amount is likely going to double since the project has been extended.

JAJARKOT, Sept 6: Jajarkot district headquarters, Dunai Bazaar, has been in dark after the landslide disrupted supply of power generated from Jairigad Hydropower Project.

Locals have been compelled to live in dark since Tuesday when the landslide swept away certain portion of the canal associated to the hydropower project on Tuesday.
Project sources claimed that the landslip had taken away around 40-metres portion of the canal.

A technical team of the Regional Electricity Authority is making preparation to lay plastic pipes to ensure smooth flow of water int eh canal. However, a call for bidding will be solicited for renovation of the broken canal, the project informed.
As the landslides this time around had inflicted big loss to the canal it requires careful renovation. RSS

JAJARKOT, Aug 20: The transportation has been disrupted along the Khalanga-Panchkatiya road after the landslide damaged it in various places. It is also full of potholes and mud in many places, adding woes to people.

The people from Kushe and Bareko municipalities have suffered much with the inconvenience for two months owing to the disruption of transport. They are forced to walk for at least one or two days to reach their destinations.

Those including traders travelling to Dolpa and Rukum through this way are also at the receiving end.

Despite mounting hassles, the concerned bodies as road department and Bheri municipality are indifferent to this.

With the disruption of transportation, the price of daily essential goods has sharply increased.

Dal Bahadur Budha from Ramidanda of Barkote-1 said, “We’re afflicted much, but no attention is paid by any side.”

Junichande rural municipality chief Krishna Bahadur Mahar also admitted that they were badly affected due to transport disruption.RSS

JAJARKOT, Dec 9: CPN (Maoist Center)’s Shakti Bahadur Basnet has been elected as the House of Representative member from Jajarkot. Former Home Minister Basnet defeated his Nepali Congress rival Rajiv Bikram Shah garnering 32,281 votes. Shah only got 23,289 votes.

JAJARKOT, Dec 8: CPN-UML’s left alliance candidate Karbir Shahi has secured victory in Province Assembly ‘B’ of Jajarkot district. He 15,186 votes while his closest rival from Nepali Congress Deepak Jung Shahi only garnered 10,362 votes.

Likewise, in Jajarkot ‘A’, CPN (Maoist Center)’s Ganesh Prasad Singh is leading with 11,536 votes, with Nepali Congress candidate Bedraj Singh trailing behind with 8,341 votes.

JAJARKOT, June 29: People of Nalgadh Municipality-13 in Jajarkot do not get even paracetamol, the pain relieving and fever reducing medicine and jeevanjal, useful in diarrohea, from the local health post when in need.

The local Bhagawati Health Post does always face the medicine shortage, but the unavailability of these general but vital medicines for curing fever and diarrhoea here has made the patients irate.

“We never get general medicines that the government has announced free and an access to such facility is a far cry for us,” said a local Rati Kami who visited the health post seeking paracetamol after suffering from fever, but forced to return empty-handed.

Prem Basnet’s story is somehow similar to Kami’s experience. Basnet reached the health post seeking the treatment for his mother as she was suffering from diarrhoea, but the health post has neither health workers nor the anti-diarrhoeal medicine even the Jeevanjal.

Health post management committee former chair Amar Shahi shared that the health post always lacks the basic medicines that are mostly used. He saw the negligence on the part of authorities concerned behind this grim situation.

He accused the authorities concerned of supplying medicines to only those health facilities in the accessible location. The health post lies in Aulgurta, which is the most remote part of the district.
The government has announced distribution of 35 medicines free of cost which has been just like a ‘fairy tale’ for the Aulgurta folks, who are forced to go to places outside the district in search for treatment when in need.

Health post in-charge Health Assistant Officer Arun Kumar Yadav said though they have some stock of other medicines, they are facing the shortage of some sorts of most essential medicines and the District Public Health Office was already informed about it.

District Public Health chief Dheerjung Saha said the Office supplies the medicines to other district-based health facilities on the basis of demand, adding that he has already directed the health institutions to immediately demand for medicines that are not in their stock. RSS

JAJARKOT, June 12: Though it may sound strange, it is the reality for the 30 households at Pyargara of Tribeni Nalgadh Municipality-4 in Jajarkot who have to walk for at least six hours to the nearest source of water to fetch a jar of water.

Local Sushila Karki walks for around three hours to reach the nearby water source to fill a jar of water and equal duration to return home. The water shortage has gotten so bad in the village thus forcing the people to visit Naulo to get water. On the top of that, they have to wait for their turn to fetch water.

“Neither the village nor its adjoining areas has any source of water. The Pyargara folks are forced to walk for hours to get a single jar of water and their day is spent by doing this time-consuming, uncomfortable but unavoidable work,” said a local Til Bahadur Sarki, bemoaning that no political leader or organisation has so far realised their suffering.

There will be like a melee in the Chipchipe water resource in Naulo when the people gather to collect water. “The Pyargara folks are not facing this in the recent years, they are accustomed to this daily routine since over the last 50 years,” Sarki was sharing the common experience of the Pyargara folks.

During rains, the Pyargara folks harvest rainwater and use it even knowing that to use rainwater without processing is not good for health. School age children are spending their days in collecting water from Naulo.

Pyargara that lies at an altitude of 3,000 meters above the sea level is poor in sanitation practices as well and this is all due to the acute shortage of water. Toilets built here have remained unused as people prefer open defecation in isolated and jungle areas which according to him save the water or do not ‘need’ water. Health problems like diarrhoea, dysentery and worm are common in the village.

Thought the district reports the construction of drinking waters projects at the expense of millions of rupees from the government and non-government sectors every year, Pyargara folks believe that their village has never figured in their priority. Neither the government nor the non-government bodies have taken their drinking water problem into their notice, let alone address it. RSS