NAKHON SAWAN, Jan 22 – Some 50 people in a tiny village, about 10 km from the provincial town in this Thai province, gateway to the North, have led their entire lives without electricity, it was reported, and there is no promise or hint of change.
Too small to even have a name, the tiny village with seven houses in Takianluen sub-district of the provincial seat, the residents, mostly farmers, have always yearned for electricity.
Boonruen Taptiang, 72, said she has never watched TV and that she always cooked food using charcoal stoves – a similar practice in every house.
Nukul Panneng, 46, said government officials installed solar panels to generate electricity in the village four years ago but the system broke down six months later and it has never been fixed.
“We have asked the authorities many times for electricity but were told that there wasn’t enough budget,” he said.
Children must rely on light from gasoline lamps in doing their homework and go to another village five kilometres away to watch TV, he said.
