Marshyangdi Rural Municipality in Lamjung district has announced to provide up to 50 units of electricity for free every month to all households from the upcoming fiscal year.
Free Electricity for Locals
While the federal government is planning to put a five percent tax on electricity usage above 100 units from the next fiscal year, a local government is doing the opposite. Marshyangdi Rural Municipality in Lamjung district, which borders Manang, is preparing to give free electricity to its residents every month.
From the next fiscal year, every household in the rural municipality will get up to 50 units of electricity for free. Arjun Gurung, who is the Chairman of the rural municipality, said that this plan was proposed in the policy and program for the next fiscal year. The 21st village assembly has already passed this proposal. This program is named ‘Hydro Income, Investment in Bright Marshyangdi’. To make this happen, the village assembly has allocated a budget of Rs. 55 Lakh, Chairman Gurung told.
Funding From Hydropower Royalty
There are a total of 4,409 households across all the nine wards of the rural municipality. The local government expects to receive around Rs. 4 Crore from electricity royalty in the upcoming fiscal year. Bigyan Paudel, the Chief Administrative Officer, explained that the rural municipality will pay the electricity bills for up to 50 units using money received from hydropower royalty.
Currently, about 100 MW of electricity is being generated from eight different projects within this rural municipality. This includes the 50 MW Upper Marshyangdi ‘A’ and the 30 MW Nyadi Hydropower Project. Also, other projects like the 50 MW Marshyangdibesi hydropower project, which connects with Besisahar Municipality, are currently under construction. The local government said that as more electricity is produced, their royalty income will also increase.
Big Relief for Rural Families
Pradeep Gurung, who is the personal secretary of the Chairman and also a local resident, shared that about 90 percent of the citizens in the rural municipality use less than 50 units of electricity per month. Because most of the areas are rural and there are very few industries, energy consumption is low. So, almost 90 percent of the local people will probably not have to pay even a single rupee for electricity.
Recently, the 21st village assembly of Marshyangdi Rural Municipality presented a total budget of Rs. 68 Crore 73 Lakh 18 Thousand 500 for the fiscal year. The rural municipality has a population of 18,759. The local residents are very happy after hearing that they will get 50 units of free electricity.
This article was originally published on https://bajarkochirfar.com. Translated with the help of AI and reviewed by our editorial team.
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