Manthali locals paying dearly for water

  • Need to pump water from river has led to increase in tariff for locals

Ramechhap, July 23

People in Ramechhap district headquarters Manthali are paying a huge price for drinking water. The increase in water tariff has to do with the increased cost of pumping the water from the river and rivulets after the usual water sources went dry.

“Consumers could just pay minimum Rs 500 every month, but that’s not enough now with the increased cost of pumping water with electricity,” said Manthali Drinking Water Consumer Committee Manager Jagadish Subedi. “Apart from the 8,000 rupees we paid to connect a three-phase line, Nepal Electricity Authority charges us Rs 6.60 per unit of electricity, which is two times more than it charges for using electricity for irrigation purpose,” he said, adding it was just last year when the committee had increased the charges two-fold.

As per the latest bill, some four lakh rupees has been accrued in electricity charge in the month of Jestha (May/June). Up to last year, such charge would be half this amount.

After the Bhaluwajor and Machawarikhola rivers that fed the Manthali Water Project went dry, the locals in the headquarters are now provided with water that is pumped up from the Tamakoshi River some 200 metres below. “We’ve dug four wells on the Tamakoshi river banks and water from those wells is pumped up for 23 hours every day,” said the water project committee Chairperson Ramchandra Biyogi.

Meanwhile, there are 13 such water projects in Manthali Municipality alone and dozens of others in the entire district where the locals’ need for water is fulfilled by pumping water up from the river. Manthali Municipality Mayor Ramesh Basnet stressed the need for the government and its power utility to review the electricity traffic for water projects.