Panmaya Magar, aged 58, of Dhungre settlement in ward 4 of Udayapurgadhi Rural Municipality finishes cooking before darkness falls. She has to complete major household chores during daylight as there is no electricity in the settlement. Panmaya and her 63-year-old husband Burjaman Magar are both speech-impaired. Due to their financial constraints, they cannot afford to install solar panels at home.

Forty-eight-year-old Ludri Magar is in the same situation, with no access to solar power either. When they need to move around at night, they rely on burning pine wood, bamboo torches and oil lamps for light. Like Panmaya and Ludri, 55 households in Dhungre are still living in darkness.

“If only I could see our village glowing with electricity before I die, how happy my heart would be. Now even that hope is slowly fading,” said Hom Bahadur Magar, aged 79. He longs to play with his grandchildren under electric light. “Perhaps my weakening eyesight would shine again if it could see that light,” he said.

Udayapurgadhi Rural Municipality launched a community electrification project in 2019 with the aim of connecting all settlements to the national grid. Six years later, electricity has yet to reach several settlements in the local unit. Dhungre and Dumre settlements in ward 4 remain without power, while in ward 3, communities such as Saipa, Sano Ratmate, Mabate, Panighatta and Lapse are also under darkness.

Although main utility poles were erected and wires installed years ago, branch lines, transformers and meter boxes have never been completed. “We already paid between Rs12,000 and Rs30,000 per household three years ago to the rural municipality, but there is still no certainty about when electricity will come,” complained Arjun Bahadur Ale Magar of Dhungre. “People even helped contractors to erect poles and stretch wires, but now no representative of the construction company comes to the village.”

According to rural municipality chair Man Bahadur Kepchhaki, contractor’s negligence has forced around 250 households in wards 3 and 4 to live without power. “Work on community electrification began in 2019. One contractor completed the work in other wards, but another abandoned the project halfway and disappeared,” he said, adding that the municipality has asked the Nepal Electricity Authority’s Community Electrification Department to terminate the contract.

Nandakishor Mandal, divisional engineer of the Nepal Electricity Authority, confirmed that the agreement with Sunita and Kabita Construction expired two years ago and that the company has failed to complete the project. “We have instructed the contractor repeatedly to finish the work on time. Clarifications were sought several times, and penalties have been imposed, with 0.5 percent of the contract amount being deducted per day of delay. If the negligence continues, the contract will be cancelled altogether,” he said.

Ward 3 chairman Manoj Kumar Karki said local representatives have had to deal with growing frustration from residents. “We face the people’s anger every day. The construction company has stopped responding to our calls,” he said.

Delayed rural electrification across the country often stems from contractor irresponsibility, weak monitoring and logistical difficulties in hilly terrain. The situation in Dhungre is yet another reminder of hundreds of families waiting year after year for electricity that others take for granted.