KATHMANDU: The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of the Legislature-Parliament has alleged massive misuse of the national revenues in the under-construction Chameliya Hydroelectricity Project in Darchula district.
It directed the Ministry of Energy to initiate actions against the officials involved in irregularities.
The PAC has also directed the Ministry, Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) and the Chameliya Hydroelectricity Project to start the construction within seven days, Committee Chairman Janardan Sharma said.
Most of the lawmakers who expressed their views in the Committee meeting today suspected utter misuse of national property in the project and demanded action against the then Minister for Water Resources, high officials of NEA and other involved officials.
They also demanded that misappropriated amount be collected from them.
Normally, the construction cost of the hydroelectricity project with one-megawatt vcapacity is Rs 150 million. But in the Chameliya project, this cost has now reached Rs 540 million and the term of the project has been extended time and again in the name of variation and the overall cost has been illegally increased, the lawmakers alleged.
The report of a sub-committee formed to look into the project has suggested to bring former Water Resources Ministers Govinda Raj Joshi, Khum Bahadur Khadka, Baldev Sharma Majagainya, Bijaya Kumar Gachhadar, Deepak Gyawali, and former Ministers of State Ram Bahadur Gurung, Benup Raj Prasain, Thakur Prasad Sharma, Gyanendra Bahadur Karki, and former NEA Management Committee chairs Sarbendra Nath Shukla and former Vice-Chairman of the Council of Ministers and Minister for Water Resources Tulsi Giri into the investigation.
The sub-committee led by Rajendra Kumar KC has also suggested inquiries with Executive Directors of the NEA Kirti Chandra Thakur, Ajit Narayan Shingh Thapa, Bishnu Bam Malla, Dr Janak Lal Karmacharya, Harishchandra Shah, Arjun Kumar Karki and Uttar Kumar Shrestha.
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