Dhading, July 25

Irregular supply of electricity has been the bane of people in Dhading.

With power supply getting disrupted all too frequently, all kinds of businesses using machines operated by electricity have been faring abysmally.

“As there is frequent load-shedding, it has forced us to stay without work for a long time, which has further caused a huge loss,” said Bharat Adhikari, owner of Dhadingbesi-based Netrawati Press.

Elsewhere, 45 households in places like Majhikhet, Majhilose and Baradanda in Galchhi Rural Municipality have been languishing in the dark since mid-July after a wooden electricity pole fell. Though locals had informed the Gajuri-based Nepal Electricity Authority and asked the office to repair the pole, the latter stopped power supply altogether.

Similarly, residents of Nilkantha Municipality are also living in the dark for the past few days after electricity got disrupted when a transformer at the district headquarters exploded. In Mankhu Halthum, Thakre Rural Municipality, the residents are exposed to risk as the NEA has yet to manage a live wire that is just one metre above the ground.

“As our kids go here and there to play, we don’t have any option but to look after our kids all the time in case they go to the ‘death trap’,” said local Durga Pariyar, adding, a child was injured after touching the live wire. Though locals have demanded more electricity poles, their demands have fallen on deaf ears.

NEA Dharke branch chief Madhu Maharjan, however, disavowed any knowledge of the problem. “I will do the needful after being informed about the problem,” he said.