People of Kepilasgadhi rural municipality in Khotang have caused the suspension of power production from the three-megawatt Upper Rawakhola Hydroelectricity Project for denial of compensation they are eligible to get for their lands acquired by the project.

They have forcibly diverted the water from the project dam back to the river, halting the power production.

Earlier, they had announced a phase-wise protest against the Rawa Energy Development Company Limited, the Halesi Energy Company Limited and the Lower Mid Rawakhola Hydroelectric Project that are based in the Rawakhola river that lies along the border of Sungdel and Dipsung.

The locals have launched a phase-wise protest against this ‘injustice’, said Maitiraj Rai who is the coordinator of the Private and Public Property Conservation Struggle Committee, Kepilasgadhi. The hydropower companies have deceived the locals by not compensating for their property, he charged.

Today, they shut the operation of the Rawakhola Project, he added.

“We had decided to disrupt the project works if our demands were not addressed by March 16,” Rai said.

During the expansion of the transmission lines, some 5,200 meters of land was used by the hydropower developers. Likewise, 38 plots of land were acquired for the pipeline expansions, it is said.