'Oil lamp' village near urban area in Yen Thanh

(Baonghean.vn) - Living less than 20km from the town center, for decades, 27 households in Nha Dua hamlet, Kim Thanh commune, Yen Thanh district (Nghe An) have been living in "oil lamps", never once using electricity for lighting.

Nha Dua Hamlet has 27 households with over 130 people living separately from other hamlets of the mountainous commune of Kim Thanh. Due to the mountainous terrain and the distance between households, bringing electricity here is currently facing many difficulties.

Chopsticks Hamlet has 27 households with over 130 people living, separate from other hamlets of Kim Thanh commune (Yen Thanh).

Mr. Tran Van Ve, who lives at the beginning of Nha Dua hamlet, said that he followed his parents to live here since the 70s. Gradually, more people came to settle here, including families who have been here for nearly 50 years, but have never used electricity.

Mr. Ve bought a generator to generate electricity. However, he does not use the generator often. His family only uses it for lighting and TV from 7pm to 9pm. During the day, no matter how hot it is, they do not dare to use it because it wastes oil. According to the family's calculations, the family spends about 1.2 million VND per month on oil to run the generator. Due to frequent use, the generator is damaged, and Mr. Ve's family has had to replace it with a third generator (the type costs about 4-5 million VND/unit).

Up to now, Mr. Nguyen Van Ve's family has had to use the third generator, two of which are broken and lying around in the corner of the garden.

Not far away is the family of Mr. Hoang Dang Khoa, who for many years has had to use kerosene lamps for light. With young children in the house, studying is difficult. Like other families, the grandparents long for electricity to facilitate their children's learning.

Currently, the whole hamlet has 50 students of all levels. During the day, they have to study in Lang Thanh and Hung Thanh communes, and at night, they study by kerosene lamps.

Mr. Nguyen Duy Cuong, the head of Nha Dua hamlet, said: "Currently, the people here are very eager to have electricity to use, however, because the cost of bringing electricity here is very large, we do not know when we will have electricity. Living here for so many years without electricity is already an issue, but I feel sorry for the children, living in this era but still do not know what electric lights or television are...".

Although in 2011, 13 households here invested 10 million VND each to bring electricity from the area bordering Lang Thanh commune for use, however, because the power line was too far and the power load was poor, most of them could not use it when they got here.

Not only is there no electricity, there is also a serious shortage of water for daily use. The wells in the village are deep but most of them are dry. People mainly rely on rainwater, so daily life is also difficult.

According to Mr. Nguyen Cong Hai, Deputy Head of the Industry and Trade Department of Yen Thanh district, 27 households in Kim Thanh commune do not have electricity yet, the department is currently advising the district People's Committee to coordinate with the electricity sector to request a project to build an electricity line to Nha Dua hamlet. However, from the commune center to Nha Dua hamlet, there is 7km of forest road, to bring the power grid there is also very expensive, with a preliminary estimate of about 7 billion VND. We also do not know when it will be implemented.

Duc Chung