Student union burns effigy of Nepali minister protesting deposition of Electricity Authority Chief

KATHMANDU: The All Nepal National Free Students Union (ANNFSU- Unified Socialist) burnt the effigy of Deepak Khadka, Minister of Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation protesting the deposition of Nepal Electricity Authority Chief Kulman Ghising.

A meeting of the Council of Ministers on Monday evening sacked the incumbent Executive Director of Nepal Electricity Authority- Kulman Ghising from the post.

Ghising who has been regarded as the person to put an end to power cuts in the Himalayan nation has been deposed from the post citing his poor performance. The cabinet instead has appointed Hitendradev Shakya, the brother-in-law of Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli as the successor of Ghising.

“The government yesterday (Monday) decided to depose Kulman Ghising, the Director General of the Nepal Electricity Authority, we have hit the streets against it. Kulman Ghising is a government staff who really cared for the welfare and well-being of the people, he rescued the nation from the situation when the nation was reeling under an 18-hour power-cut, and there was the dominance of cartels which he ended. Now he has been removed from the post by the incompetent government and its minister Deepak Khadka is more responsible for creating trouble for him by asking for clarifications multiple times. He also established his own cabin at the Nepal Electricity Authority creating problem for him finally resulting in deposition of Ghising,” Ashok Thapa, one of the protestors from the student union told ANI.

Previously, the cabinet had sought an explanation multiple times after the departmental minister failed to remove Ghising. To justify his dismissal, his performance was deliberately rated poorly.

Credited for bringing reformation in Nepal’s electricity sector and ending about 18-hour power cuts, Ghising has a large following and the support of the public. Lately, the Managing Director Ghising and the Energy Minister Deepak Khadka have been at loggerheads.

Earlier in the first week of March, the Ministry of Energy, Water Resources, and Irrigation awarded a zero score to Kulman Ghising in the work performance evaluation.

“Kulman Ghising had about three months of his tenure left in the office but he was removed from the office through a political coup. This reactionary move by Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, we have hit the street again to protect this democratic system,” Narayan Sharma, said another protestor  .

Ghising received a zero score based on performance evaluation for the fiscal year 2023-24. Ghising had submitted a detailed report to the ministry claiming 98.99 per cent marks and including key performance indicators for evaluation. Ghising submitted an evaluation report on January 9 claiming 98.99 per cent marks for the work performed in fiscal year 2023-24.

The NEA said that Ghising had previously received scores of 94.23 per cent and 98.94 per cent from the Energy Ministry in the performance evaluations for fiscal years 2021-22 and 2022-23, respectively.

Ghising is entitled to an incentive allowance based on his performance evaluation score. The NEA earned a profit of Rs 14.46 billion in the last fiscal year.

In fiscal year 2015-16, the NEA had incurred a net loss of Rs 8.89 billion. However, in 2016-17, it earned a net profit of Rs 1.5 billion, marking the beginning of its profit-making history.

Since then, the NEA has remained consistently profitable. Eight years ago, it had an accumulated loss of Rs 34.61 billion rupees. But it has now accumulated a profit of Rs 47.41 billion.

In the last fiscal year, the NEA reduced electricity leakage in the system to approximately 12.73 per cent. Until eight years ago, electricity leakage stood at 25.78, while in the fiscal year 2022-23, it was 13.46 per cent.

Over the past eight years, the NEA has achieved significant success in electrification. In fiscal year 2015-16, electrification coverage was only 58 percent. Three years ago, it was 89.7 per cent, and now it has reached 99 per cent.

During the last fiscal year’s monsoon season, the NEA exported surplus electricity to India after domestic consumption, earning Rs 17.07 billion. In the last fiscal year, Nepal exported electricity worth about Rs 130 million more than it imported, achieving a historic milestone of transitioning from a net electricity importer to a net exporter.

Ghising was appointed managing director of the NEA for a second four-year term by a Cabinet decision on August 9, 2021.

Based on the Cabinet’s decision, a performance agreement was signed between the Ministry of Energy, Water Resources, and Irrigation and Ghising on January 19, 2022, incorporating various indicators of NEA reforms. (ANI)