Jajarkot, January 4

The plan to link Jajarkot to the national power grid has been left in limbo for about a decade now, thanks to the contractor’s negligence and apathy on the part of concerned government authorities to oversee the work progress.

The government had started the project about ten years ago to link district headquarters Khalanga and its vicinity to the national power grid.

However, except for the sluggish work in the early years, the project has been abandoned for the past one year.

“On the one hand, our country is going through various political developments, but on the other, our leaders and government have been ignoring development agendas of late,” said Consumers’ Rights Protection Forum Jajarkot Chairman Chhabiraj Sharma, also ruing the decade-long delay in the project.

Narendra Construction Service, which was entrusted with developing the transmission line from Rakam of Surkhet to Jagatipur of Jajarkot, has yet to install even the power cable, informed the District Forest Office. “We require permission from the district forest office to begin our work as it entails the destruction of vegetation,’’said the contractor company.

Assistant Forest Officer of Jajarkot Lalbabu Jha clarified that his office had already sent a file to the forest department to allow the contractor to launch their work.

Expansion of a power transmission from Kudu to Khalanga has yet to begin although years have passed since Sitaram Construction Service bagged the contract for the project.