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CPN (Maoist Center) Deputy General Secretary Janardan Sharma said that there is no need of a high-level committee to investigate the latest gold smuggling case.

He made such remarks at a time when another Deputy General Secretary of the party Barsha Man Pun had been demanding the formation of a high-level committee to probe the case.

Sharma said that there is no need of a high-level committee to investigate the gold smuggling case while he was on his way to the Kamaladi-based Nepal Academy Hall to take part in the Central Committee meeting scheduled to start from today.

“The Department of Revenue Investigation is investigating the case. Why do we need the high-level committee?” he questioned.

Sharma also urged the main opposition CPN-UML to help in the investigation of the gold smuggling case.

The UML has been obstructing Parliament proceedings for the past few days demanding the formation of a high-level probe committee.

The youth leaders of the ruling coalition have also been saying lately that it would be better to form a high-level probe committee to investigate the gold smuggling.

Home Minister Narayan Kaji Shrestha has not given any response in the Parliament on the gold smuggling scam.

The Department of Revenue Investigation on June 18 seized around one quintal gold that had passed the airport customs undetected.

So far, 18 persons have been arrested in connection with the case.

Residents of Balkot area in Suryabinayak Municipality-3, Bhaktapur, were hit by a power outage that lasted for several hours on Tuesday morning. The morning routine of office workers and students were affected as a result. Many families did not have access to water because they could not use the water pump. 

When the residents tried to call ‘No Light’ service of the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA), the line, as always, was unresponsive.  

“We could have prepared accordingly, had we been notified about the power outage,” said Roshan Dahal, a local resident. “We tried calling the ‘No Light’ number, but no one answered.” 

But NEA Spokesperson Suresh Bahadur Bhattarai claimed that the ‘No Light’ was a 24/7 service. 

“We have a human resource crunch which might have led to unresponsiveness,” he claimed.

Abrupt and frequent power cuts have become common across the country in the recent months. The NEA officials say this is primarily due to maintenance works that are currently underway in different parts of the country. 

While the power utility has issued a ‘Maintenance Shutdown Schedule’ on its website, it does not match the time of electricity outage. Moreover, the schedule only concerns Kathmandu Valley; it does not tell when the maintenance works are being carried out in other parts of the country. 

It took five hours or so for the power to restore in Balkot. The local residents did not find out why there was an outage in the first place.    

Earlier, load shedding was primarily limited to industrial areas, but from the past few months, even households are facing frequent power cuts.

According to a research report published in May 2022 by the Confederation of Nepalese Industries (CNI), 64 percent of Nepal’s industries are forced to install diesel generators due to frequent power outages. The use of generators, as per the paper, results in an average increase of 5.3 percent in the industries’ monthly operation costs.

Between 2008 and 2016, the whole country suffered from unreliable power supply, sometimes up to 16 hours a day. According to the study entitled ‘Economic costs of electricity load shedding in Nepal,’ the country lost an estimated $11bn value of its GDP in that period. 

During the load shedding period in Nepal, the NEA used to publish weekly power outage schedules and update it regularly. 

Load shedding or not?

The recent power cuts have led many people to suspect that the NEA has imposed ‘undeclared load shedding.’ 

“When there was officially announced load shedding in Nepal, the NEA used to provide the weekly schedule of power outages,” a netizen posted on Facebook. “But now, the NEA neither admits to load shedding, nor provides regular electricity, compelling people to think if the days of load shedding are back.”

The NEA officials claimed that there is no load shedding, since the country has been generating surplus electricity during the rainy season. 

As of now, the total installed capacity of hydropower plants operational in the country is 2,759 MW. However, the national peak demand is only 1,806 MW. Yet, there are regular power outages.

Delay in the construction of transmission line

The NEA officials attribute the intermittent power cuts to the delay in constructing transmission lines. The construction of Hetauda-Dhalkebar-Inaruwa 400 kV and Hetauda-Bharatpur-Bardaghat 220 kV transmission lines has been ongoing for more than a decade, significantly surpassing the initially planned completion time of three years.

The delay in the construction of these transmission lines has also hit the country’s hydropower sector.  

Representatives of Madhya Bhotekosi Jalavidyut Company Ltd have said that the project would miss the generation deadline by at least one month. 

“We have already encountered several delays owing to local obstructions and natural disasters,” said Ram Gopal Shiwakoti, the company’s CEO. 

Initially, the project had planned to complete the project by the end of 2022, which was pushed to mid-June. 

“Our revised electricity generation schedule is September. Due to the delays, the project cost has escalated by Rs 2.75bn,” added Shiwakoti.

While the project’s work is almost complete, the actual generation cannot commence until the transmission lines are completed. 

Due to the delay in constructing high-capacity transmission lines, the NEA official said, the authority is currently transmitting only around 80 MW of electricity using its old transmission system. The new lines would have supported the transmission of up to 300 MW. 

The construction of a 400 kV transmission line is essential for transmitting electricity to western Nepal from the Dhalkebar substation. The existing 132 kV transmission line in Hetauda is unable to carry sufficient electricity to supply the western region. As a result, the NEA is unable to meet the demand and purchase electricity from independent power producers.

Poor infrastructure

Mukesh Kafle, former Managing Director of the NEA, said that the delay in the construction of new transmission and distribution lines is not the only reason behind power outages. 

“The Nepal Electricity Authority needs to replace its overall system. The time has come to invest in replacing all the channels including substations and feeders,” he said.

Without the system overhaul, Kafle warned, their situation will get worse in the future.

Meanwhile, the NEA has instructed the Independent Power Producers (IPPs) to reduce their energy generation, claiming that around 170 MW of electricity from 20 hydroelectricity projects is going to waste. 

Ganesh Karki, president of Independent Power Producers’ Association Nepal (IPPAN), said that the only solution for regular electricity flow is installation of modern distribution and transmission lines. 

“The government should not leave all the work of infrastructure development to the electricity authority. It should also intervene when necessary to control the problem of power spillage,” he said.

Karki added Nepal has finally become power surplus at least in the wet months, so the time has come for the government and investors to focus on infrastructure development.

“Earlier, everyone was focused on power generation because we were way behind our producing capacity. And since infrastructure development was never our priority, we do not have a reliable distribution channel to supply electricity.”

The CPN (Maoist Center) has decided to expand its Central Committee.

A Standing Committee meeting held on Wednesday before the Central Committee meeting decided to expand the Central Committee by amending the statute to ensure inclusiveness.

Currently, there are 387 members in the Central Committee of the Maoist.

The Maoist Center is preparing to make 22 women members as central members.

Speaking to journalists after the meeting, party spokesperson Krishna Bahadur Mahara said that the party is preparing to bring some women, youths and left out senior leaders to the Central Committee.

In the Central Committee meeting, party Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal will present a political report by briefing on the recent political situation, Mahara said.

The members will get time to air their views after the party Chairman presents the political report, he said.

The five-day Central Committee meeting of the Maoist Center is starting from Wednesday in Kathmandu

The CPN (Maoist Center) has decided not to live-stream the Central Committee meeting slated for August 2-6.

An office bearers meeting of the Maoist Center held on Wednesday before the Central Committee meeting decided not to live-stream the meeting, Central Office Secretary Dor Prasad Upadhyay said.,

Earlier, the party had decided to broadcast their Central Committee meeting online with an objective of directly providing a glimpse of the meeting's proceedings to the general public and party cadres.

After most of the leaders expressed their dissatisfaction over the party’s decision to live-stream the Central Committee meeting, which is considered an important meeting, an office bearers meeting held this morning decided not to stream the meeting live.