DAILEKH: Staffers of the Upper Karnali Hydro-electricity Project have demanded security from local administration in Deilekh and Achham citing disruption in construction work by the locals. GMR, an Indian energy company, had signed an agreement with the government for the construction of the project some 14 months ago.

The locals, claiming that the construction work was initiated without adequate groundwork and their consent, have been disrupting the construction of the project.

Khestra Narayan Khatri, GMR field coordinator said, “We asked the local administration in Dailekh and Achham to provide us security as we feel insecure,” adding, “As we are not in a position to address their demands, the government should better take care of it,” he said.

GMR’s associate general manager KK Sharma said, “We could not begin the construction work due to the insecurity.”

The locals’ demands include job guarantee, 50 per cent share in the project, compensation against the acquisition of their land and study of the environmental impact of the project. The agitating locals have formed separate committees — Karnali Concern Struggle Committee and Struggle Committee — to pressure the company to meet their demands.

“We have filed a writ petition in the apex court to save Karnali river, which is the origin of Karnali civilisation,” Gorakh Bahadur BC, coordinator of Karnali People’s Council said.

“We have formed the committee to protest the unilateral decision of the Natural Resource Committee for the construction of the project without fulfilling the provision mentioned in the Article 154 of interim constitution,” Bhakta Bahadur Shahi, a local from Lakandra VDC in Dailekh said.

“As we were kept in the dark about the points of agreement reached between the government and the construction company, we will not let the construction work proceed,” Ratna Bahadur Shahi, Layanti Bindrasaini VDC coordinator of Karnali Concern Struggle Committee said.

Officials of local administration in Dailekh and Achham districts said the problem should be discussed at the central level. The project plans to generate 300 megawatt electricity.

Partial closure

Tanahun: The power generation at Abukhaireni-based Marsyangdi Power Project has been affected after one of its three units was closed for repair. The repair work started in the third week of March after the No 2 unit stopped functioning, said Bindu Prakash Joshi, a staffer at the hydropower project.

The other two units — No 1 and No 3 — have been generating 24 MW of power each, according to Joshi. The project is generating only 85,000 units of power at present though it has a capacity to generate 1,700,000 units.

More than 50 technicians from Kaligandaki, Kulekhani and Modikhola hydropower projects are involved in the repair. According to the technicians, nearly 85 per cent of repair has already been completed. The repair is expected to be complete within 10 days. In 2005, the flood in Ruwa Khola had partially damaged the project. — HNS