Himalayan News Service

Panchathar, July 27:

People at Phidim, headquarters of Panchathar, are deprived of power, transport, phone and health services since last Friday.

After the Maoists stopped all vehicles leaving for Phidim at Ranke bazaar located at the border of Ilam and Panchthar, locals in the district headquarters are facing a crisis of essentials things. It is almost two weeks since vehicles have reached Phidim.

The most excruciating thing for locals is absence of electricity in the district headquarters.

Apart from this, since the transmission link got disconnected at the Sitauli-based NTC Tower, telephone services have been disrupted in Pnchathar and Taplejung districts. More than 1,000 lines in the two districts are out of service.

Panchthar NTC chief, Mahinarayan Chaudhary, said the technicians from Biratnagar Sitauli based tower would repair the link and the telephone connections will be resumed temporarily until the new transmission system is brought from Biratnagar.

Meanwhile, Manisha Yongpande, three-year-old daughter of Birendra Yongpande of Bharpa VDC-9 of Panchthar died of pneumonia since she was not taken to a better hospital out of the district in time due to lack of transport.

Similarly, 48 students from Panchathar who had gone to Jhapa to take tuition class couldn’t attend the SLC examination due to lack of the transportation facility.