By Hikmat Singh

Dadeldhura, Mar :2 Work on the West Seti Project has lingered without a headway since its inception 28 years ago.
The leaders and parties have been raising the project as an agenda in every election but the work has not moved ahead as desired by the common people.
“We have been hearing that the project will be completed soon for decades,” the locals stated. “A few companies came and even prepared a field report, but with no results.”
The locals complained that waiting for the project’s completion had deprived them of basic services like electricity, roads, drinking water, irrigation and education. “The government feels that the areas will be submerged anyway, so has stopped investing here,” local Dambar Bahadur Singh informed, adding, “Neither the project gains momentum, nor are other development works carried out.”
“Even in today’s day and age, we are forced to live in darkness because electric poles have not been put up,” stated another local Tek Bahadur Singh, “Thinking that the project will flood these areas, the authorities have not paid attention to our development.”
Mandir Dhami, a resident of Dhungad, grumbled, “The talk of West Seti began when I was young, and is still going on now when I have become old.” He accused the government of lying to the people and said the project had unnecessarily impeded the development of the area.
Nawadurga Gaunpalika – 4 and 5 of Dadeldhura, Sigas Gaunpalika of Baitadi, Aadarsha Gaunpalika of Doti and a few villages of Bajhang have been classified as areas to be affected by the project.
The project had spurred immense hope among the residents of the area when it was initiated almost 30 years ago. A few companies also came and conducted field studies which further raised people’s spirits. But, in absence of any concrete progress, all the preliminary hopes have now died out.
“After the local elections, we had hoped that at least other works relating to street light, school buildings and drinking water would be carried out, but these hopes have also vanished, just like the ones about West Seti,” Min Bahadur Chand, principal of Sarada Secondary School, Dhungad, said pessimistically.
Chair of Nawadurga – 4 Padam Bista said that the government had been deceiving the public in the name of the project and informed that the local levels were going to play an active role in starting West Seti. “We are ready to pay any price to execute the project,” he said.
The government had signed an agreement last year to construct the 750 MW project under the joint investment of Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) and China’s Three Gorges International Company. The investment was also approved by Investment Board Nepal. But the construction of the project has not started so far. The cost of the project is estimated at Rs. 160 billion.