Myagdi. Raghuganga Hydropower Project, a subsidiary of Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA), has been delayed in distributing compensation to the tunnel affected people of the 40 MW Rahughat Hydropower Project in Myagdi.

The construction of the 6-kilometer-long tunnel linking the dam at the foot of Raghuganga Rural Municipality-4, Dagnam and 5 Jhi to the powerhouse at Tilkenichaur has delayed the distribution of compensation to the affected people.

Mana Shahi, a resident of Raghuganga-3, said that the government has neglected to distribute compensation to the affected people who have collapsed their houses and are unable to live in cracks. The wall of Shahi’s house made of stone and mud has collapsed and cracked near the project’s surge shaft tunnel.

Ram Kumari Malla, a local of Piple, said that it has been six years since her house cracked due to the tremors of the explosion. “I have been looking for a loan of Rs 1.75 lakh given by the project for temporary housing management,” she said, adding, “The compensation has not been decided yet.” ”

A minimum of Rs 175,000 to a maximum of Rs 300,000 was distributed to 30 households who could not live in temporary shelters around the tunnel of Surgesoft, Pressure Shaft and Adit No. 3.

Affected Lekhnath Sharma said that there was delay in getting compensation to the affected people as they tried to evade the responsibility of the project, district administration and rural municipality. A team of technicians from the District Administration Office, Infrastructure Development Office, Rural Municipality and Project had prepared a preliminary report of the damage to more than 350 houses in the tunnel area.

Ward Chairman of Raghuganga Rural Municipality-3, Khim Bahadur Shahi, said that the affected people were delayed in receiving compensation as the responsible persons of the bodies involved in the study did not take ownership of the report.

Chief of Rahughat Hydropower Project Raj Bahadur Bista said that the report of the technical team has not been received and preparations are underway to distribute the compensation as per the rules.

Chairman of Raghuganga Rural Municipality Bhawa Bahadur Bhandari said that the tunnel affected people of Rahughat have been categorized according to the nature of the damage and facilitation and coordination have been made for the distribution of compensation. Bhandari said that the District Administration, Ministry of Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation and Nepal Electricity Authority should be held responsible for the delay in distributing the compensation as it is owned by the government.

The Rahughat Hydropower Project, which has completed the construction of the physical infrastructure, is preparing for trial production. The Rahughat Hydropower Project has been constructed under the concept and Engineering Procurement and Contract (EPC) format with the concessional loan of USD 67 million from the Indian Import-Export (EXIM) Bank and the joint investment of the Nepal Electricity Authority and the Government of Nepal.

Due to poor financial condition, the contract with the old contractor IVRCL was terminated in 2072 BS and the construction was started through a new process. The contract agreement with IVRCL was signed in 2066 BS. The last selected civil contractor, Jayaprakash Associates (JP), started digging the access road in June 2018 and tunnel in June 2019. The project had signed a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) in April 2018 with the target of generating 240.5 million 93,034 units of electricity annually.