Agro and water Resource Committee directs the Energy Ministry and `its bodes to implement the announce programmes

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    Ministry of EnergyKathmandu, April 19: The Agriculture and Water Resources Committee under the Legislature Parliament has directed the Energy Ministry and its bodies to implement the announced programmes.

    Today’s meeting of the Committee once again directed the Ministry and its bodies to implement the programmes immediately, citing the directives issued by the Committee in the past were not implemented.

    Urging the National Planning Commission, Energy Ministry and Finance Ministry only to present the objective programmes, the Committee pointed out that the annual programmes presented by the budget booklet and Energy Ministry were difficult to be completed, said Committee President, Gagan Thapa.

    Responding to the queries raised by lawmakers, Energy Minister Radha Gyawali said that making the country free from power outage was the need of hour.

    Giving emphasis on the development of solar energy, she said that alternative energy should be managed until the production of energy after the completion of the reservoir-based projects.

    The Energy Ministry clarified that expected result from proposed hydropower projects was not achieved due to delay in process.

    She expressed sadness over the difficulties in implementing the projects due to reviving the decision of the government by the court,  among others.

    Stating that the NPC has determined the budget ceiling of Rs 39 billion to the Energy Ministry for the coming fiscal year, Energy Secretary Rajendra Kishor Chhetri said that collective initiatives were necessary to end anomalies seen in the hydropower sector.

    He expressed the belief that organizational and structural reforms of the Nepal Electricity Authority were necessary.

    Meanwhile, the meeting also approved the condolence proposal in the demise of senior most members of the Constituent Assembly and former Prime Minister, Surya Bahadur Thapa.

    Committee members extended tributes to late Thapa by observing one minute’s silence.

    Source : TRN