The government has finally appointed Kulman Ghising as the executive director of the Nepal Electricity Authority. Ghising, who ended load shedding from the country forever, was re-appointed as the head of the Electricity Authority by the cabinet meeting held on Monday. Ghising is being reinstated after receiving the appointment letter on Wednesday.
The Council of Ministers has also decided to promote the outgoing Executive Director of NEA, Hitendra Dev Shakya, to a special category and post him in the Secretariat of the Water and Energy Commission. He has been appointed to the commission on a full-time basis without any reduction in the facilities provided to him.
The Commission, chaired by the Minister of Energy, consists of members of the National Planning Commission, secretaries of various ministries, two experts appointed by the government, Deans of the Institute of Engineering Studies, President of the Nepal Engineers Association, and representatives of the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry.
None of these members are paid by the commission. However, the government on Tuesday approved the regulations to appoint Shakya as a full-time salaried member, a senior government source said.
On the initiative of Minister for Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation Pampha Bhusal, UCPN (M) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda had proposed Kulman to be the executive director of NEA. Accordingly, Minister Bhusal had proposed to appoint Ghising as the executive director of NEA in the cabinet meeting. She also submitted a proposal to take the current executive director Shakya to the commission.
Kulman had been working for the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) for four years and was discharged on September 15. During his tenure, for the first time, the end of load shedding was announced across the country on 1 June 2075 via Kathmandu. During his tenure, significant success was achieved in controlling electricity leakage. When he was appointed, the leakage was 26 percent on September 15, 2013. It was reduced to 15 percent when he was discharged.
Similarly, NEA was established as the most profitable institution. NEA had earned a net profit of Rs. 11.68 billion in FY 2011/12. However, in the previous fiscal year, the figure was limited to Rs 3.38 billion.
Minister for Energy Pampha Bhusal had been expressing dissatisfaction with the NEA leadership since the formation of the current government. She expressed dissatisfaction over the inability to control the leakage, dedicate it to the businessmen and collect the tariff of the trunk line. Then, on 19 July, in the presence of Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba, Minister for Energy Bhusal demanded the resignation of Hitendra Dev Shakya, Executive Director of the Electricity Authority.
