Energy Minister Khadka urges parliamentary committee to resolve disputes over dedicated line tariff

Kathmandu, July 26: Minister for Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation, Deepak Khadka, has urged a parliamentary committee to resolve disputes surrounding the dedicated and trunk line electricity tariff.     

In a meeting of the Public Account Committee under the House of Representatives on Friday, the Minister wanted the Committee to weed out the nagging issues through dialogues with the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) and business community.     

"The power has been restored for now to resolve disputes within three months. The matter which had turned messy could be sorted out with the initiation of the Committee. It further prompts the Ministry for further action," he stressed.     

Executive Director of Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA), Kulman Ghising, said the NEA would be recovering the tariff which is in dues in accordance with the decision of the Council of Ministers, order from judiciary and the direction of the Committee.     

He said the NEA took to cut off the power supplies to industries as its frequent calls for clearing the electricity dues went in vain.     

Though industries moved the court against the electricity bills calculated by the NEA, the verdict was against their writ, Ghising reminded.     

The Committee has been giving time to discuss the issues concerning the disputes over the dedicated and trunk line electricity tariff for the past two days.     

On Thursday, it had sat for discussions with business community and with the Energy Minister, NEA, Electricity Regulatory Commission and the Office of the Auditor General on Friday.     

Committee President Rhishikesh Pokharel said the Committee wants to conclude the long-standing dispute. The conclusion will be based on the report submission of Office of the Auditor General, Lal Commission, reports of various committees, previous decisions of the Public Account Committee, decision of the Council of ministers, claims and counter claims of NEA and business community, the Electricity Regulatory Commission, according to him.(RSS)