Okhaldhunga, May 17:

Villagers in the remote areas of Okhaldhunga district are ecstatic. Their houses have electricity now, being generated all because of their own efforts. Their dream came true after they joined hands to generate power to light the villages without any support from any technical experts.

Three villages of Rampur, Baruneshwor Village Development Committee, were illuminated after two locals - Gopi Krishna Dahal and Chandra Bahadur Karki teamed up in March.

“Actually, we were not prepared to generate power,” said Dahal, adding that they did it all of a sudden without support from technical experts.

“We were preparing to start a grinding mill but people advised us giving it a shot at generating power,” Karki said. “We had seen similar installations in other districts. We tried to copy and succeeded,” Karki said.

Piped water from the top of a small hill falls 500 metres below, winding a wheel. The turning wheel runs a dynamo that generates power, Karki, a 42-year-old School Leaving Certificate graduate, said.

The duo operates the dynamo from 6 pm to 6 am to supply power to the villages. At other times, they run a grinding mill. “So far, we are generating 5kw electricity and around 140 houses from wards 1, 2 and 3 are consuming power,” Dahal informed.

“We charge Rs 30 for an eight 8 watt bulb, Rs 50 for two, 60 for three and Rs 70 for four,” he added. Dahal and Karki said that their installation had the capability to supply power to more households but most people being poor, were not able to use the service,” added.

Both said they jointly invested about Rs 400,000 to run the grinding mill and power house.They are carrying out the work of generating power and running the mill from a fragile hut made of bamboo and straw.