Beding village in the remote northern part of Dolakha district has been linked with the national transmission line.

The Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) constructed a 24-km-long transmission line of 11KV from Upper Tamakoshi Hydropower Project’s powerhouse to supply electricity to the village. According to the NEA, a budget of Rs 30 million was spent to supply electricity to the village by installing 390 utility poles.

“Our village was left behind when it came to development because we did not have electricity supply,” said Nawang Tenji Lama, a local resident. “Now that we are connected to the national transmission line, we hope we will get an uninterrupted supply of electricity.”

The villagers have been relying on solar and oil lamps as the local micro hydropower has remained closed for the past 10 years. Although the village had a telecom network via Nepal Telecom, it wasn’t of much use without electricity, say locals.

The locals, however, remain sceptical. They question the durability of the utility poles installed for electricity transmission.

“We receive heavy rainfall every year. I’m not sure if the poles are erected properly,” said Lama. “I’m afraid we will be back in darkness if the weather turns bad.”

Lama says the contractor did not do a thorough job of erecting the utility poles in the village.

“They have placed some utility poles in the middle of the foot trail along the Rolwaling stream. We had submitted a memorandum to the NEA asking them not to install the electricity poles on the foot trail but our request was not addressed,” said Lama.

Beding village, which lies at ward 9 of Gaurishankar Rural Municipality, is around 80 km north from Charikot, the district headquarters of Dolakha. The village is not even connected with the national road network. There are 85 households of Sherpa and Tamang communities in the village that lies at an altitude of 3,721 metres above sea level.

“We never thought our village would be linked to the national grid. It is a huge achievement for the development of this remote village. But we are worried whether the electricity line can sustain harsh weather conditions,” said Tsering Sherpa, the ward chairman of Gaurishankar-9.

The expansion of the electricity line to the village has been completed and the NEA is now installing transformers.

“Insulator wires have been used to connect the village to the national grid. We will soon transport two transformers to the village. Electricity supply will reach the village in about two weeks now,” said Meghnath Dhakal, chief at the Dolakha distribution centre of the NEA. According to Dhakal, it was a challenge to connect the village to the national grid since most of the equipment, wires and utility poles had to be transported to the village by porters.

Addressing the locals’ concerns about the durability of the utility poles and the contractor’s work, Dhakal said technicians from NEA will soon make a field visit to the village to monitor the quality of work being done.

“The electricity line has reached the village. We will ask the contractor to remove utility poles from the middle of the foot trail so that they won’t inconvenience locals and tourists alike,” he said.

Beding lies along the Tsho-Rolpa trekking route in Rolwaling valley and is a tourist destination.