India is supplying maximum possible electricity to reduce load shedding in Nepal and was not responsible for the acute power shortage in the country which is facing 12-hour power outages daily, the Indian Embassy has said here.
It refuted allegations made by a section of Nepalese media that load shedding has increased because India ignored its commitment and did not grant permission to Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) for upgradation of transmission lines that connect Nepalese grid with that of India.
Nepal is currently witnessing daily 12-hour load shedding due to the low level of water in the rivers in winter season.
India, however, has assured that it will help reducing power shortage in Nepal and some concrete steps have been taken towards that.
“Government of India has taken concrete steps to reduce load shedding in Nepal by supplying maximum possible electricity on the existing transmission lines and by helping to augment cross border grid connectivity to increase this quantum up to 250 MWs,” the Indian Embassy said in a statement.
NEA, which is the sole state authority responsible for generation and distribution of power in the country, said normally the power demand in Nepal goes up to 1000 MW during the dry season as compared to the wet season.
The drop in electricity generation owing to the decreasing water level in rivers has been blamed for the hours of daily blackout. Outages during the winter last year had gone up to 16 hours per day.
To meet the growing power demands, Nepal had reached several understandings with India on importing power from various cross border transmission lines.
“Change of conductors in Kushaha (Nepal)-Kataiya (India) 132 KV Cross-Border Transmission line was one of the medium term measures to improve power situation in Nepal identified by an India-Nepal Joint Team of Technical experts in November 2011,” the statement said.
In July, 2013, NEA had requested India’s consent to re-conductor the Indian portion of transmission line also through a Nepalese contractor.
The approval of Bihar State Power Transmission Company (BSPTC) was received on September 26 and that of the Ministry of External Affairs on October 3, the statement said.
Source : Business Standard
