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The development of New Butwal Substation and 18-km Transmission Line was initiated today at Sunawal Municipality-13 amidst a function organized in the presence of Finance Minister Rameshore Prasad Khanal and the US Ambassador to Nepal Dean R. Thompson. 

Minister Khanal shared that construction of this substation and transmission line would directly contribute to the sustainable economic development.

He said, "This project reflects the government's commitment to expansion of access to clean energy and its promotion, to regional energy trade and to the national goal for achieving sustainable economic growth. We will transform the agreement for our national interests through the cooperation of MCC and MCA Nepal."

Likewise, the US Ambassador Thompson said the project has come to this stage due to untiring efforts of the past two years.

"This shall contribute to Nepal's economic growth along with the trade," he viewed.  

The transmission line and substation is expected to ensure uninterrupted power supply in the households and businesses and would create more employment opportunities in the country, the US Ambassador added. 

Likewise, Chief of District Coordination Committee Bhagawati Prasad Yadav suggested that this project should be advanced with partnership of all including by taking the local community members.

The project being developed under the MCC Nepal Compact is expected to establish vital energy trade relations between Nepal and India along with empowering energy connectivity in Nepal.

The transmission line would connect the 400 KV New Butwal Substation upto Nepal-India bordering point. The project is estimated to cost USD 50 million. 

Over 300 children are found suffering from autism in Jhapa district alone. 

A total of 381 persons are found living with autism, out of which, over 300 are children.

Coordinator of an organization, Karuna Foundation, Nischal Ghimire, categorized the sufferers as 254 male children, 28 female children and 45 adult ones. 

The Foundation had conducted a survey and identified such a huge number in 15 local levels across the district. The organization had identified the autism patients with the support from the Ministry of Social Development in Koshi Province. Those identified with this health problem have been mainstreamed to health and education.

Similarly, there are 13,863 persons living with various sorts of disabilities in the district. The provincial ministry has been conducting a disability prevention and rehabilitation programme for five years. The programme is run also in Ilam, Morang, Sunsari, Khotang, Bhojpur, Panchthar and Sankhuwasabha districts.   

However, the disability rehabilitation program has been running in Jhapa, Taplejung and Tehrathum districts since last year, according to coordinator Ghimire. 

Nearly 100 persons suffering from vocal impairment are managed education at Mahendra Ratna Secondary School of Garamani, Birtamod and at another school of Damak. The concerned local levels have been providing therapies for free of cost to the autism sufferers.  

In the eastern part of Mugu, where the Lama community lives, Chitim (Kagni Sampa in Lama language), is built at the entrance of every village. Reflecting this heritage, a Chitim-style bridge has been built at the entrance of the Buddha Park in Mugum village of  Karmarong Rural Municipality-2.

This unique bridge has attracted the attention of not only the village but the entire Karnali region. The construction has been completed with a beautiful combination of religiosity, architecture and local craftsmanship.

Built at a cost of Rs 4.16m, the project was funded by Rikika Bruckner Lama Thinle Karuna Foundation President Thinle Lama, completed through the skill and labor of Mugum villagers. The bridge represents an earnest effort to revive a cultural heritage that is on the brink of disappearance.

According to Thinle, the bridge was envisioned to preserve the Lama-Buddhist tradition after the Kagni Sampas started disappearing from villages due to road expansion and other infrastructure development projects.

The locals of Mugum said the bridge not only preserves religious tradition, history and cultural identity, but also has the potential to boost religious tourism by attracting pilgrims as well as internal and external visitors to Mugum. 

Designer Sonam Girme Lama, who has been studying ways to preserve such a structure since 2009, said as the roads are being expanded, the old Kagni Sampas are being demolished. He believes the bridge, which serves as an entrance to the sacred Devbhoomi, will contribute significantly to religious tourism.

Mugum Karmarong Rural Municipality Chairperson Tshiring Kyapne Lama said that the Chitim-style bridge is a symbol of pride not only for the village but the entire rural municipality. Inaugurating the bridge, he said Chitim is more than a gateway—it is a path for the gods to enter, a symbol of protection, and community identity.

Religious leaders and pilgrims echoed this sentiment, calling the bridge a ‘gateway to blessings’ for those embarking on spiritual journeys.

After serving for two years at the Gandaki Province Communicable and Infectious Disease Hospital in Lekhnath, Pokhara, pediatrician Dr. Prakash Bhattarai quit his full-time job and moved into private practice.

He now runs two polyclinics at Shishuwa and Talchowk in Lekhnath.

Dr. Bhattarai says he was compelled to switch careers because he saw no hope of recovering the tens of millions of rupees he had invested in his medical education.

“Becoming a doctor costs millions, but the government pay scale is the same for everyone,” he says. “On top of that, doctors working in local public hospitals are not even allowed to work elsewhere. How is a doctor supposed to make a living?”

Dr Bhattarai represents many doctors who want to work locally but cannot survive on full-time jobs in local hospitals alone. His bitter-sweet experiences reflect not only the struggles of doctors but also of local hospitals established to serve communities and of residents who genuinely care about the development of their local area.

Last year, youth entrepreneur Kapil Paudel personally experienced the value of having a local hospital when he helped save the life of a seriously injured man.
A bus had hit a motorcycle on the Talchowk–Dandakonak road.

Some youths rushed the severely injured rider toward Pokhara in a taxi. But they were trapped in a traffic jam at Bijayapur.

Kapil, who happened to be riding his motorcycle nearby, saw the bleeding victim gasping for life through the taxi window. With no sign of traffic clearing, he immediately stopped, informed the taxi driver that a hospital was very close by, turned the taxi around, and accompanied the group to Lekhnath City Hospital in Budhibazar, Pokhara-26.

“That incident was engraved in my mind and heart. That day, I understood the true importance of local health services,” Kapil says.

His feelings reflect the experience of most people in Lekhnath. Once an independent municipality, Lekhnath was merged into Pokhara about a decade ago, but many locals still feel it has been sidelined in development and services.

The incident Kapil describes, and the hospital he led the victim to, perfectly illustrate this sentiment.

Low trust in local hospital

Established in 2018 (2075 BS) as the first private hospital in the area, Lekhnath City Hospital was built with an investment of over Rs 40m by local youth and social activists. Yet the hospital has never been able to earn enough to cover its expenses.

“Somehow locals haven’t given it the attention we expected. So the hospital hasn’t grown as we had planned,” says founding chairman Udeep Raj Dhungana.
Managing Director Akash Basnet adds that the hospital struggles to bring in doctors—and when doctors are available, there are not enough patients.

“Even patients who know us personally often pass by and go to hospitals in central Pokhara,” he says. “Distrust of local hospitals is like a disease here.”
According to Basnet, the hospital recently added gynecology and pediatrics services.

It already offered orthopedics, general physician services, ENT, dermatology, laboratory services, and more. About 400 patients come monthly, but Basnet says this is still far too few to sustain the hospital. The management has been running community outreach and social responsibility campaigns to raise awareness.

Public hospitals face the same story

Shishuwa Hospital, one of the oldest and one of the only two government hospitals in the former Lekhnath Municipality, offers only basic primary-level services. Local health workers say people hesitate to visit nearby hospitals because they think they will be referred elsewhere due to lack of services.

“Because of the low patient flow, authorities also show little interest in upgrading the hospital,” says Shishuwa Hospital Chief Dr Suman Khaniya.
Other hospitals in Lekhnath share similar struggles. Pokhara University Teaching Hospital, which started services last year, has 100 beds, which are mostly empty.

On average, only 50 patients visit daily, according to Chief Dr Madan Khadka. Eleven doctors serve daily, but the hospital is facing procedural difficulties in starting ICU, NICU, maternity, and other critical services.

A growing population but lagging health infrastructure

Lekhnath is geographically larger than central Pokhara, and its population is rapidly approaching similar levels. But residents say it still struggles to establish itself institutionally and in policy terms as a functional part of the metropolis.

According to the Urban Health Division of Pokhara Metropolitan City, Pokhara has more than two dozen hospitals, with about half a dozen—both public and private—located in Lekhnath. Public Health Officer Subash Bastola says patient flow in Lekhnath hospitals is comparatively very low.

“It is very difficult to retain doctors in the local area,” says Dr Khaniya. “If doctors can work only in one or two small hospitals, they cannot sustain their livelihood. So getting doctors for local hospitals is extremely challenging.”

Experts say that the government must provide special subsidies and incentives to both public and private hospitals in local areas if they are to retain doctors and improve services.