Gaighat, January 4:

Locals of 33 Village Development Committees (VDCs) in Udaypur district here are deprived of electricity. Residents here are compelled to spend their nights under kerosene lamps even though the district happens to be linked to the main electric transmission line.

electrification in this region has been hampeerd reportedly due to lack of requisite budget allotted by the government.

However residents of Beltar, Katari, Triveni, Rauta, Chilaune, Khanbu and Sundarpur among some other VDCs have been provided with electricity.

“The lifestyle of locals who enjoy electricity tends to differ drastically from those who don’t,” said a local Nepali Congress leader Basanta Basnet.

According to Devendra Kandel, accountant with the Gaighat Nepal Electricity Authority NEA), “There are no projects underway to expand the electricity supply in other VDCs. It is mainly due to insufficient budget that the electrification project has been affected,”.

He claimed while electric polls were installed at Panchawati VDC last year, electrification is yet to be provided there. “More than Rs 10 million is required to provide electricity in this region. But the government has allotted only Rs 3.5 million,” he informed.