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The electricity has been provided in a remote village in Bigu Rural Municipality-1. The houses of Lapchi residents who have been living in geographical remoteness, harsh weather, and lack of basic amenities have been under the light since Friday night.

Roshan Kumar Singh, head of the Nepal Electricity Authority Dolakha Distribution Center, said that electricity has been lit since Friday night in Lumnang, Bigu Rural Municipality-1, which falls under the jurisdiction of the Nepal Electricity Authority Dolakha Distribution Center. He said that the transformer for electricity has been arranged by Sasa Hydro Power in Lamabagar and other arrangements have been made by the authority.

Lapchi residents descend to Lumnang every year in winter to escape the cold and protect their cattle, and then go to Lapchi when the cold subsides. Pasang Sherpa, chairperson of the Lapchi Gumba, said that cattle rearing is the main source of livelihood for the residents here. There are a total of 48 households in Lumnang, but only 13 households live there.

Due to the lack of access to the road network, locals say that transporting daily necessities including food from in their ward costs a lot. A packet of salt from Lamabagar in their ward costs up to Rs 160, and a sack of rice weighing 30 kg costs up to Rs 6,000, said Wangchuk Sherpa, chairperson of the Lapchi Toll Development Committee. However, when goods are brought from Chupsang in China via the Lapchi-Ramding border, a packet of salt costs only Rs 50 at most, he said.

It takes about an hour and a half to reach Chupsang in China from Lapchi via Ramding. Locals of Lapchi say that if the Chinese government allows them to go to Tasinghang after passing through, they can get goods at even cheaper prices. Therefore, the daily life of the people of Lapchi depends on the Chinese market. Although not all of the 150 Lapchi residents live in Lapchi, their main occupation is cattle herding.

They pay taxes to the Chinese government annually for cattle grazing. The locals, who have been deprived of electricity for years, are happy to have access to the national grid. With the supply of electricity, daily life will become easier and it is expected to have a positive impact on education, health, communication and economic activities. Chairperson Pasang also said that it will now be easier to charge mobile and communication devices and the possibility of operating small businesses will increase. Although the construction work was challenging due to the remote geographical conditions, the Dolakha Distribution Center stated that the project was successfully completed with the cooperation of the locals and the continuous efforts of the authority. 

A new campaign was launched with the aim of ending the unorganized and unsafe operation of city safaris (e-rickshaws) in Biratnagar for years. Under the ‘Safe Driver’ campaign launched by the District Traffic Police Office, Morang, with passenger safety at the center, city safari drivers operating in Biratnagar will now be seen on the roads with trained, certified and clearly identified by the traffic police.

The campaign aims to simultaneously solve the problems of unlicensed drivers, driving under the influence of drugs and alcohol, overspeeding, indiscriminate parking, unorganized operation and illegal operation of safaris by Indian citizens. The biggest challenge in regulation was the lack of official data on how many city safaris are operating in Biratnagar and how many of them have driving licenses. To remove this confusion, the traffic police has started a systematic registration process for licensed drivers.

For the first time in Nepal, the traffic police has made arrangements to record the details of safari drivers through a computer system. After the registration is completed, each driver is given a separate registration number. Which is clearly visible on the back of a special jacket with the words ‘Safe Driver’ written on it. Passengers do not have to search for the driver’s name, address or safari number. Morang Traffic Police Chief Inspector Santosh Neupane said that arrangements have been made to easily file any complaints, issues or grievances based on the registration number visible on the jacket.

After the registration process is complete, the traffic police will provide special training to the driver. Only after completing the training, the driver will receive a jacket with the words ‘Safe Driver’ written on it. According to Inspector Neupane, this jacket is not only the driver’s attire but also a symbol of responsibility and discipline. He says that ‘Safe Drivers’ trained and certified by the traffic police are considered at least 80 percent safer than other ordinary drivers.

The Kaligandaki Rural Municipality in Syangja has decided to provide financial assistance to families giving birth to three children.

The rural municipality has decided to provide financial assistance from the current fiscal year to families who have three children in order to prevent the declining population rate.

Chairman of the rural municipality, Khim Bahadur Thapa, said that recently, due to the decreasing population, it has become challenging to maintain population balance in the long term, which is why the rural municipality has taken this step.

“The population within the rural municipality is decreasing, and over time, the number of people in the village could become quite low.  In view of this, we have moved forward with the aim of stopping the declining population rate, providing families with positive motivation towards giving birth to children, maintaining long-term population balance, and implementing nutrition-friendly local governance,” he said.

He stated that the rural municipality has approved the procedure for providing financial assistance to families who give birth to three children and is preparing to provide financial aid to families who meet the criteria set in the procedure.

According to the procedure approved by the rural municipality, families permanently residing within the rural municipality who have had a third child after the month of Shrawan in the current fiscal year must submit an application along with the necessary documents to the concerned ward office.

Recently, the villages have started to empty as people are having only one or two children and, on the other hand, migrating from villages to cities.

“The rural municipality provides financial assistance of Rs 4,000 per month to families who have three children according to the procedure. The support is intended as a positive incentive for nurturing and caring for children, given to each family for up to two years,” Thapa said.

Fog and mist will persist until midday at some places in the Tarai region today.

Likewise, there will be partly cloudy conditions over the high hilly and mountainous areas of Koshi Province while the weather in the rest of the country will be mainly fair, according to the Meteorological Forecasting Division.

Tonight, mist will continue to occur at a few places in the Tarai region. Furthermore, weather will remain mainly fair over the hilly and mountain regions of the country.

Meanwhile, Meteorological Analysis by the Division states that at present there is the influence of the low-pressure system in the upper atmosphere in Nepal.