KATHMANDU, Sept 15: Kulman Ghising, former Managing Director of the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA), who once faced dismissal after a dispute with the government over the recovery of dues from dedicated and trunk lines, has now assumed leadership of the Ministry of Energy, Water Resources, and Irrigation.
Appointed Energy Minister in the aftermath of the Gen-Z movement, Ghising’s first decision is to pursue the collection of dues from dedicated and trunk lines. According to NEA, around Rs 7 billion remains unpaid by 28 industries using such lines.
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When Ghising was the Managing Director, he had taken the initiative to collect the dues, which prompted the ministry to demand clarifications before ultimately removing him from his post. At that time, he had even cut power lines to some industries over the issue. The industries, however, had insisted that they were willing to pay provided the bills were issued based on Time-of-Day (ToD) meters. The dispute between Ghising and the industrialists now appears set to resurface.
The then-government had formed a commission under former Supreme Court Justice Girish Chandra Lal to resolve the billing dispute regarding dedicated feeders and trunk lines. Differences had also emerged between Ghising and the government over the implementation of the Lal Commission’s report.
Although the industrialists had expressed readiness to pay based on ToD meter readings, the NEA was unable to provide such bills, further fueling the controversy. At one point, the NEA had written to freeze the bank accounts of 35 industries for failing to clear their dues. Ghising, however, has consistently maintained the position that the dues must be collected.
