Bishnu Bahadur Shrestha of Arughat Rural Municipality-9 Arutar is in Bilkhaband when the ownership of 15 plant area has been withheld for seven years.

About 300 acres of land in Arutar of Ward 9 and Chanaute area of Ward 10 have been blocked in Baisakh 2076 for the rehabilitation and rehabilitation of the affected people of Budhi Gandaki flood area. Shrestha's property is in Arutar and Chanoute. "There were 7 acres of land in Arutar and 8 acres in Chanaute. The government stopped all the land seven years ago," he said.

They complain that they are not even able to get a loan from the bank for their children's higher education and local medicine treatment due to land being withheld. "There is a problem from house to house when the land is withheld, one of our neighbors tried to mortgage the land for her daughter's education, but it was not possible to put it in the bank when it was blocked, when a disabled woman tried to sell a piece and get treatment, the land was not sold," Shrestha said. We could not understand .'

The environment, compensation distribution, rehabilitation and compensation unit of the then Budhi Gandaki hydropower project had blocked land in five places in Gorkha for the families displaced by the Budhi Gandaki hydroelectric project. Apart from the initial work of acquisition by stopping the land for rehabilitation and re-establishment, the process has not been able to proceed. The affected people say that land seizure has added to the problem. On the Gorkha side, 133 of Arughat-9 Arutar and 53 of Ward 10 Chanaute, 32 of Namjung 1 and 2 of Savik, 111 of Tora-6, 624 of Worlang 3, 9 and 8 and 96 of Darvung-5 have been stopped.

When the policy of the residents of the flooded area was approved, a letter was sent to the Malpot Office at that time to stop the purchase and sale of land that was supposed to be acquired for the purpose of rehabilitating and supporting other social, religious and cultural structures. Even though the land has been frozen, the 'modality' of rehabilitation has not been decided yet due to lack of policy.  

13 of Dhading and 14 of Gorkha's Savik villages will be directly affected for the 1200 MW reservoir project. Due to the project, 3 thousand 560 families from Dhading and Gorkha will be completely displaced and 8 thousand 153 families will be affected. The land was stopped according to the plan to acquire the surrounding land for their rehabilitation.  

Ganesh Kumar Shrestha of Arughat-9 Arutar said that after the problem of land withholding was increasing, he reached the ministry several times and requested for the release of the land. "The land has been withheld under the title of rehabilitation and restoration, but there is no way to build the project," he said. "Ever since the land was frozen, we have been approaching the ministry for release, wherever we go there is a 'bad impression' (negative perception) about the project, it is said that it cannot be released," he said. Santosh Milne, who moved forward with the

project and planned the stalled land, says the affected. The affected complain that the Budhi Gandaki project has become uncertain and is adding more problems to them. Bishnu Amgai of Gandaki-3 said that the situation is becoming miserable when the development work in the submerged area is stopped. "There is a kind of problem in the areas where the land has been blocked for rehabilitation and re-establishment. Those who are inundated are in even more trouble," he said.

After the opening of the field office, the work did not speed up. The field office of Budhi Gandaki Jalvidyut Company Limited was established on July 3 after canceling the environment, compensation distribution, rehabilitation and restoration unit of Budhi Gandaki hydropower project in Siurentar, Gandaki Rural Municipality-8 Gyalchok. 

After the establishment of the field office, the budget allocated for this project could not be spent, according to Hareram Dhakal, coordinator of the Budhi Gandaki Hydropower Project National Concern Committee. He said that in the current financial year 2081/082, the budget ceiling for the project was 500 million, but the company did not receive the funds. "The budget ceiling has been reached, the company has not received any money," he said, "Progress has been shown by the fact that the distribution of compensation has reached the final stage, the compensation of 23/24 thousand plantations of land is yet to be distributed, the money received will not be spent, and the government has not shown attachment to the project by not proceeding with other works for the construction of the project." He said that Aadhaar is not visible. "Rehabilitation, restoration, employment, everything will be done, the project will be multi-purpose, everyone will own it, we supported the project even with less compensation than usual," Dhakal said, "Now who will invest, what will be the service facilities, when will they be built, there is no guarantee, the affected people will be affected, the project will not be successful." He said that there is not enough staff in the field office. Even though the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Budhi Gandaki Hydropower Company is staying in Kathmandu, no work has been done from the field office. The affected people of Gorkha and Dhading have been demanding that the project should not be left in abeyance by confusing them.

Confusion in the modality of the project

It has been a decade since the compensation distribution of Budhi Gandaki project started. But the construction of the project has not been decided. According to the investment framework proposed by the 18th meeting of the Board of Directors of Budhi Gandaki Hydropower Company, the target is to be completed within the financial year 088/89. 

The meeting of the board of directors approved two options and submitted them to the Ministry of Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation for further decision. Soon after, the Ministry of Energy sent it to the Ministry of Finance for approval. The cost of the project is estimated at Rs 3 trillion 10 billion 47 crores when the company provides low probability funds (Viability Gap Funding-VGF) and without VGF, the total construction cost of the project is estimated at Rs 3 trillion 98 billion 2 crores. The same investment framework has been reached to the Ministry of Finance for approval.  

In the budget of the current financial year, it is mentioned that the construction of a project with a capacity of 1,200 megawatts will be decided and the construction will be started to address the electricity demand of the dry season and to export hydropower. The company said that with the approval of the investment framework, the resources for the construction of the project will be ensured and the work of the hydropower project will proceed. However, as the government is changing from time to time, the project is in a state of uncertainty due to different modalities in the budget. The Ministry of Finance has not agreed on the investment framework yet. 

Budhi Gandaki hydropower project will be built in PPP model now 

The government has not been able to decide on the modality to build the Budhi Gandaki hydropower project, and now it has said that the Budhi Gandaki will be built on a public private partnership (PPP) model. Finance Minister Bishnu Paudel said that the Budhi Gandaki project will be built on PPP model in the budget of the next financial year. It is also mentioned that the government's investment in the project will be converted into shares. Although it is said that the project will be built in PPP model, there is no mention about whether or not to start the construction of the project in the next financial year. 

Soon after the government released the budget on May 15, former Prime Minister Dr. Baburam Bhattarai responded through social media that the Budhi Gandaki reservoir hydroelectric project was 'killed'. "The project of this national dream, which was started to be strangled by the then Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal's government in May 2074, has now been completely cut off by the government of Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli through the budget speech of 2082/083. Being the initiator and initiator of the game changer project for the multifaceted economic transformation of the country, he has mentioned that the disgraceful, anti-people and anti-national decision is an unforgivable crime and betrayal on the country and the people.

42 billion compensation distribution  Of the 58 thousand 153 ropani required for the

project, 49 thousand 95 ropani of private land have been distributed. So far only 42 billion 71 crores have been spent on compensation distribution . Compensation for private land and houses, plants and fruits has been distributed, but the process of acquiring community and government land has not progressed . The progress of the project is only the distribution of compensation. Locals complain that the office of Budhi Gandaki hydropower project has become chaotic and the affected people have also been disturbed. The people living in Perti and Ailani land in the sub-area have not received compensation.