Employees at Nepal Electricity Authority have cut off the power supply to ministers’ quarters in Pulchowk for two hours on Sunday morning.
The electricity supply was cut off protesting the government decision to upgrade the capacity of Upper Trishuli 3A Hydropower Project amid protests from various quarters.
The agitating employees also staged a sit-in outside the ministers’ quarters. They have warned to increase the power cut off hours if their demands were not met.
Employees unions have been protesting against the recent NEA decision to upgrade the capacity of Upper Trishuli 3 A Hydropower Project. The move will escalate the cost by Rs 4 billion and delay the construction by three more years.
Source : The Kathmandu Post
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NEA unions protesting Upper Trishuli 3A upgrade reject talks
KATHMANDU, June 9: The four employees union of the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) that have launched protest against the NEA decision to upgrade the 60 MW Upper Trishuli 3A Hydropower Project to 90 megawatts refused to sit for talks with the NEA management Saturday. The unions say they will not stop the protests until the upgrade decision is scrapped.
´We have just one demand and the NEA management cannot fulfill it,´ Ram Prasad Rimal, chairman of the NEA Employees Union, said. ´We demand that the decision to upgrade the project should be scrapped.´
The four employees” unions launched protest last Friday. ´We want to make it clear that talks are not necessary. The government can simply scrap the upgrade decision and we will immediately end protest and resume work,´ Rimal said.
The NEA management had invited the unions for dialogue regarding the NEA board”s decision to upgrade the capacity. ´The management said that it wanted to provide us additional information regarding the upgrade decision but we are not interested,´ Rimal told Republica on Saturday.
´We have further intensified the protest programs as the government didn”t listen to our demand so far,´ Rimal said.
The four employees” unions include: NEA Employees Association, NEA Employees Unions, NEA Employees Council and Nepal National Employees Association.
Explaining the details of the protest programs, Rimal said they would cut power supply to the ministerial quarters in Pulchowk for two hours from 10:30 am on Sunday. ´We will also cut power supply to the NEA head office for four hours Sunday and stage pen down protest throughout the day,´ Rimal said. ´The employees” unions have decided to stage a pen down protest for four hours in all NEA offices across the country.´
The controversial decision to upgrade the capacity of the project has been criticized from various quarters including by former energy and finance ministers. Senior leaders including central committee member of the Nepali Congress (NC) Dr Ram Sharan Mahat, central committee member of NC Prakash Sharan Mahat, politburo members of CPN-UML Surendra Pandey and Gokarna Bista and senior leader of the Rastriya Prajantra Party Dr Prakash Chandra Lohani have jointly submitted a memorandum to the chairman of the interim election council Khil Raj Regmi to revoke the upgrade decision Thursday.
In their six-point memorandum, the leaders have argued why the project should not be upgraded. ´The project”s upgrade is not in the interest of the country,´ reads the memorandum. ´Upgrading the project”s capacity will further deepen the load-shedding problem in the country.´
Upper Trishuli 3A is a run of the river project being developed by the NEA with China Gezhouba Group Company Limited as contractor. The Exim Bank of China has provided soft loan of US$ 89 million for the project.
Source : Republica
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मन्त्री क्वाटरमा विजुली बत्तिको लाइन काटियो
काठमाडौ, जेष्ठ २६ – पुल्चोक स्थित मन्त्री क्वाटरमा विजुलीबत्तिको लाइन काटिएको छ । त्रिसुली -३ ए आयोजनाको क्षमता बढाउन गरिएको निर्णयको विरोध गर्दै बिद्युत प्रधिकरणका कर्मचारीहरुले आइतबार बिहान बत्तिको लाइन काटेका हुन् ।
टेकुस्थित शव वे स्टेशनबाट दुई घण्टाकोलागि लाइन काटिएको छ । आन्दोलनरत कर्मचारीहरुले विरोध गर्दे अहिले मन्त्री कवाटरमा धर्ना समेत दिएका छन् । उनीहरुले आफ्नो माग पूरा नभए विद्युत कटौती समय थपगर्ने चेतावनी दिएका छन् ।
प्राधिकरण संचालक समितिले टेन्डर र कानुन विपरित आर्थिक प्रलोभवनमा पारेर आयोजनाको क्षमता ६० बाट ९० बनाउने निर्णय गरेको निष्कर्ष निकालदै चारवटा युनियनले चरणबद्ध आन्दोलन गरिहेका छन् ।
ती संगठनहरुले आइतबारदेखि तीनदिनसम्म प्राधिकरणका देशभरका कार्यालयमा बिहान १० बजेदेखि बेलुका ५ बजेसम्म कामकाज ठप्प पार्ने कार्यक्रम अघि सारेका छन् ।
Ekantipur
