KATHMANDU: It did not come as a shock when Energy Minister Gokarna Bista resigned from the post of chairman of Nepal Electricity Authority Board, as he had already made an announcement to this effect a few days ago. Nonetheless, today’s development is expected to send a wave of change in the country’s sole electricity utility.
According to the Ministry of Energy, a Cabinet meeting tomorrow is likely to approve Bista’s proposal to resign and appoint someone else as NEAB chairman, a move the minister says is aimed at saving the Nepal Electricity Authority from further politicisation.
“I have found that extreme political interference brought the organisation to such a dire straits. The (energy) secretary will take the responsibility now onwards,” said Bista. He was the chairman of the board by virtue of being the minister of energy.
With Bista’s move today, NEA has seen two fresh changes. A few days ago, the managing director of NEA was appointed through open competition, breaking the longstanding tradition of seating a person of the minister’s choice as the executive head of NEA.
Bista said a minister’s direct appearance at operation level was not necessary. “The only authority to watch the work of NEA is ministry. But if the head of the ministry, who should warn against wrongdoings, himself assumes the top post, who will question the irregularities? So, a minister should not be involved in day-to-day decision-making processes and it must be given a chance to operate by itself,” said Bista.
As per NEA Act 1984, NEA board of directors has the managing director as the member secretary and secretaries from the ministry of energy and ministry of finance as members.
Minister Bista’s recent moves are aimed at fixing the troubled electricity utility that has a cumulative loss to the tune of Rs 28 billion, and rising. “It’s high time we introduced some reforms. If we let the trend continue, I am afraid the organisation will collapse soon,” said Bista.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment