Load shedding rumours false: Minister Khadka

By A Staff Reporter,Kathmandu, May 22: Minister for Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation Dipak Khadka has clarified that the talk of 'load shedding' is just a baseless rumour spread on social media. 

He made this clarification while speaking at a meeting of the Infrastructure Development Committee of the House of Representatives held on Wednesday.

Minister Khadka said that Nepal's electricity production has increased and exports to India have started from today by meeting the domestic demand.

He said that while 350 megawatts of electricity was being imported from India, generation increased with the onset of the rains and imports were stopped and exports started from Tuesday midnight.

Minister Khadka said that when production decreased in the winter, up to 1,055 megawatts of electricity was imported from India on a daily basis. But now that production has increased, sufficient electricity is being supplied to the general public and industries, he said.

The NEA has confirmed that 731 megawatts of electricity has been exported to India since Tuesday midnight. 

He expressed serious objection to the recent rumours of load shedding in the country, calling it a planned campaign to spread confusion. 

He shared his experience of some people abroad repeatedly calling at night and complaining, “We have no electricity,” but said that no such facts have been found. 

He said, "Even at midnight, calls come from abroad, repeatedly from the same number. They complain that the electricity has gone out, but when we check at that place, we find that there is regular supply of electricity. This is a planned campaign to spread confusion."

According to him, there is regular supply of electricity everywhere and the power outage is not due to load shedding but rather due to maintenance and various technical problems such as pole collapse and wire snap due to wind and storm.

Minister Khadka said that the Nepal Electricity Authority has been practicing transparency if there is a power outage anywhere, and stressed that a situation like load shedding is not due to a lack of electricity generation. 

According to him, in the past years, electricity supply was temporarily disrupted for up to 700 hours a year due to various technical reasons. 

He said that domestic electricity consumption would increase rapidly in the coming days and said that there was a plan to further increase generation. He asked the public not to spread false information on social media and urged them to trust information with evidence. 

"Believe in facts, not rumours. We are increasing production, supply is balanced, and there is no threat of load shedding," he said.