About 50 households under Ngangla Gewog in Zhemgang still do not have access to a gridline electricity supply. People say they have been deprived of the service for many years now.
Without electricity, the households of five villages in Ngangla gewog still use firewood for cooking. They depend on solar power to light their homes and recharge mobile phone batteries.
Locals say it is the incompetency of the local authorities that they are left without electricity till now while rest of the villages in the same gewog have been reaping the benefits of rural electrification for five years now.
“The discussions about bringing electricity have been going on for two to three years now. The villages are in dire need of electricity. Till date, we did not receive any information from the Bhutan Power Corporation (BPC) on this project. We are looking forward to hearing from them soon to solve our problem,” said Rinchen Wangdi, the Ngangla Gup, Zhemgang.
Officials from the BPC in Zhemgang said a survey has already been carried out to connect the villages to an electricity grid. The contract is also awarded and electrification works are expected to begin soon. The BPC is targeting to complete the project within the next two years.
Pema Samdrup
