Bhimeshwor Municipality installed smart street lights in the market area four years ago in partnership with the Electricity Authority. The installation of lights was completed in 2079 BS with the aim of making Charikot a smart city. 

8/8 flood lights were installed in the main Satdobato and Pashupati Chowk of the market, along with two 'high mast lights', 65 of 90 watts and 10 of 120 watts.

The schedule has been made so that all of these lights turn on and off at the same time. But the switch for the schedule of these lights is in India. As a result, the locals inquired with the municipality staff after the lights turned on before sunset in the evening and did not turn off until sunrise in the morning. 

After the locals' inquiries, the company that installed them changed the schedule a month ago at the request of the municipality and now it is lit from 6:30 pm to 6 am. However, the municipality staff says that they have to rely on the Indian company to change the time of turning on and off the street lights. The municipality says that the company that installed the lights was purchased from an Indian company, so the software was not available in Nepal. 

Suryodaya Urja Pvt. Ltd. installed the smart lights at a cost of 11 million rupees, 60 percent of which was paid by the municipality and 40 percent by the authority. Arjun Tamang, a municipal employee responsible for setting the lighting schedule, said that only the company that installed the lights could adjust the schedule.

The municipality has been paying electricity bills for more than 1.5 million rupees every year for smart lights. These lights also have sensors that turn on/off and dim the lights according to the time.  ‘I asked the company that installed the lights to adjust the schedule after the lights were turned on during the day, and they replied that they would have to send an email to India,’ he said. ‘After repeated requests, they said that the software was not working a month ago and the time was adjusted from there.’ 

6 months ago, Suryodaya Urja, the company that installed the lights, also provided Tamang with a one-day training on adjusting the lighting schedule. He said that despite training, the 'app' provided by the company to adjust the lighting schedule did not work. 

The municipality has been paying electricity bills for more than 1.5 million smart lights every year. These lights also have sensors that turn on/off and dim the lights according to time. 

However, the municipality says that since the municipality does not have the software, the sensors cannot be used and due to this, the electricity bill is also rising higher. The Nepali company that installed the lights has not given the software for the lights to the municipality and the Electricity Authority Dolakha Distribution Center. 

Bhimeshwor Municipality Mayor Ishwar Narayan Manandhar said that although in the past the lighting schedule had to be adjusted from India, it has now been handed over to the Electricity Authority. 'We should have asked India to adjust the lighting schedule for the last 2/3 years,' he said. 'I have received news that it has been handed over to the authority, will it improve now.' However, Roshan Kumar Singh, Head of the Electricity Authority Dolakha Distribution Center, said that only the NEA's street lighting project is aware of this matter. 

 Sagar Gyawali, the former (then) head of the authority's street lighting project, admitted that there has been a problem with the smart light schedule for some time. He also said that the problem will be resolved in a week or so as he has received the software from an Indian company. 'In the past, the schedule had to be arranged from India because there was a problem with the software, now we have changed the software here,' he said, 'This will be resolved in a few days, this is a minor problem.'