Apr 16, 2018-Energy Minister Barsha Man Pun has said the government would investigate the policy-level corruption in rationing electricity in the past and take action against the guilty. At a press meet in Kathmandu on Sunday, Pun said he had received information about some serious cases of corruption. “Despite erratic power supply in the past, some big industries were supplied power while keeping people in the dark, literally,” said Minister Pun. “The guilty should be brought to justice so that such activities do not repeat in the future.”
Nepal Electricity Authority has said there is no power outage in any part of the country at the moment. Former energy minister Janardan Sharma and NEA Managing Director Kulman Ghising had worked together to end power cuts in Kathmandu Valley from the day of Laxmi Puja, the festival of lights, in 2016. Gradually, the entire country got regular power supply.
While people faced power cuts up to 17 hours daily in the past, some big industries enjoyed uninterrupted supply.
An investigative report by the Centre for Investigative Journalism, Nepal, has blown the lid off the decade-long rationing of power. According to the report, the NEA supplied four to six megawatt power round-the-clock to the Hetauda-based Shivam Cement factory while the general public reeled under power cuts up to 14 hours a day during the winter of 2013. The report states that around three dozen industries had access to dedicated feeders while people’s households received no electricity.
Despite an increase in power import from India and the growth in domestic output, the NEA still faces a power crisis. Pun attributed addition of more power to the grid and supply management for the end to load-shedding.
Source : The Kathmandu Post
