Khotang: The locals in southern Bopung VDC in Khotang have been living in the dark for the past seven months after a landslide swept the local micro-hydropower project. Failure to repair the project has left people with no choice but to adapt to the blackout. More than 250 households of the VDC have been deprived of electricity for more than half a year for want of repairs of the hydro project owing to budget crunch. As the locals could not repair the 19KW Chhinnamasta Micro Hydro Power after it was damaged, they have been forced to live in the dark for months, said Jay Bahadur Rai, a local. He also accused the concerned authority of not taking any initiative to repair the project. Consumers’ Committee Chairman Raj Kumar Rai said that landslides had swept away five kilometres of wire and 12 poles of the high tension line.  According to him, they had to incur a loss of Rs 2 million due to the disaster.  “As we are not in a position to collect the required budget, we are yet to initiate the repairs,” lamented Rai.