KATHMANDU: Nepal Electricity Authority has decided to overhaul its organisational structure and recruit 818 new employees in various posts across the country, according to a new Organisational and Management report.
The report was published some three weeks ago by a three-member committee under Teknath Acharya, member of NEA board.
The last meeting held under Chief Secretary Leelamani Paudel had taken the decision to this effect before Paudel resigned as chairman of the NEA board.
According to the restructuring plan, the number of departments will be cut down to six from 10 and the department heads will be called ‘deputy managing directors’ instead of general managers.
Likewise, the grid development and grid operation department will be merged into single ‘transmission’ and the department of generation, operation and maintenance will be named as ‘generation’.
The Distribution and Consumer Services in the east and west will be merged into one Distribution and Consumer Department.
Similarly, finance and administration departments will also be combined into one department.
The new departments include Distribution and Consumers Services; generation; transmission; Planning, Monitoring and Information Technology; Engineering Services; Finance and Administration.
All the departments at the state-owned power monopoly except for Finance and Administration are technical.
The employees of the power monopoly from level 1-5 will not be permanently recruited and the existing permanent positions will be cancelled if there are no candidates for promotion, according to the report.
The new O&M will make the distribution of responsibility and accountability in pyramid structure effective and it also rules out any recruitment and opening of new offices haphazardly, said Acharya.
“The Finance Ministry has assured us of approving 818 new posts including some 200 electrical engineers,” Acharya added.
President of the Nepal Electricity Authority Employees’ Union Ram Prasad Rimal said some issues raised in the O&M are not practical and cases of some 650 employees have been unfairly treated in the contract.
“Those employees, who have been doing menial works for years, should get permanent status but the new provision under O&M says no employees will be appointed in the lower level including drivers,” Rimal added. Meanwhile, the discussion is underway whether or not to implement the report, according to Rimal.
According to the report, the NEA management has formed a committee to settle the transfer of the employees.
Source : The Himalayan Times