One month left in Kulman's tenure, all-round activities are underway to prevent a recurrence

Kathmandu. The tenure of the Executive Director of Nepal Electricity Authority has entered its last month. His four-year tenure is coming to an end on September 13. The then Energy Minister Janardan Sharma had brought Ghising, who is working as a tenth level employee of NEA, as the Executive Director of NEA by taking a decision from the meeting of the Council of Ministers on September 10, 2008. He had assumed office on September 12.           

            

As his term draws to a close, the NEA is debating whether to continue him or not. On the one hand, there is a demand that he should be given continuity in the next term. In order not to repeat Kulman and to bring a person who suits him in that place, activism has started to increase at the high political level. It is said that the possibility of him remaining in NEA for the second term is getting weakened due to the same manipulation. 

It is known that Kulman has miraculously ended the load shedding for years within six months. With the end of load shedding, NEA has been able to turn a profit by eliminating the deficit of years and reduce the irrigated deficit of years. For whatever reason, there is a strong public opinion that he should continue in NEA for the next term. However, high-ranking government officials, from the energy minister onwards, have been discussing Kulman's options in recent times. Sources claim that some people have even been assured of the post.

If Ghising is to continue, the government must reappoint him immediately. However, no such appointment has been made in the ministry so far. The Act does not clearly state when the executive director of NEA should be appointed. However, in the case of re-appointment, a decision has to be made with the remaining term of the person remaining.

              

Who is playing?

A tripartite lobbying has started against Kulman's second term. Thus, the first person to lobby in the opposition is the person who wants to bring Ghising's successor or a person like him as his successor.

The Executive Director of Nepal Electricity Authority is considered to be one of the most attractive posts among the executive heads of public enterprises. Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) is the largest public institution with government investment. According to the NEA's financial statement of mid-July, the size of NEA's balance sheet is Rs. 329 billion. It is also one of the largest public institutions in the country. NEA alone has a share capital of Rs 125 billion. Similarly, there are about 15,000 employees under NEA now.

However, NEA has not become the center of attraction only because of its large assets, large staff organization and maximum capital. NEA is also one of the leading organizations involved in public procurement. On top of that, NEA is currently operating various projects of strategic importance. NEA is intensifying the work of undergrounding electric wires, connecting single phase smart meters to domestic customers, constructing charging stations for electric vehicles, and construction of multi-circuit transmission lines.

However, the anger of those who have lost billions of rupees in trade and tens of millions of rupees due to the removal of load shedding is not dead at this time. The trade of those who have been trading billions of rupees annually for goods like inverters, batteries, generators, charging lamps, charging CFL bulbs also came to a standstill after the end of load shedding. The NEA's process for purchasing LED bulbs had brought billions of dollars to a standstill. Due to that anger, there is a large number of businessmen who want to disrupt his tenure

A large purchase agreement will have to be signed for all the mentioned works. Even those who want to make public procurement their own and take unauthorized advantage of it want to bring a person who suits them in this position. That is why the last lobbying has started. On top of that, the position is considered as the center of attraction as the NEA will also play an important role in the management of hundreds of large projects invested or owned by the authority. For the same reason, the aspirants for the post are working hard for the post.

Another side that does not want to see Kulman in his second term is high-ranking government officials and employees. Due to Ghising, his interest in NEA has stopped working for the last four years. In his first year as executive director, Kulman had run the Electricity Authority independently with the help of the then energy minister Janardan Sharma. By the time Sharma stepped down as energy minister, he had already received overwhelming support. That is why he has not had to bargain with anyone to save his position.

               

Lately, he has been ignoring high political pressures, even in order to keep his faith in the public at bay. High officials are irritated by his behavior. Apart from the decision to be made legally, they have complained that Kulman did not discuss with them even for general etiquette.

However, the anger of those who have lost billions of rupees in trade and tens of millions of rupees due to the removal of load shedding is not dead at this time. The trade of those who have been trading billions of rupees annually for goods like inverters, batteries, generators, charging lamps, charging CFL bulbs also came to a standstill after the end of load shedding. The NEA's process for purchasing LED bulbs had brought billions of dollars to a standstill. Due to that anger, there is a large number of businessmen who want to disrupt his tenure.

Meanwhile, after the billing of dedicated and trunkline, even the industrialists are angry with him at this time. Industrialists have been saying that they cannot pay for electricity because they have not used it. The scandal of around Rs 11 billion is still going on in this case. This process has been going on in various bodies in the name of study. As Kulman is the main cause of this controversy, even the industrialists do not want his continuity. However, he did not say that removing him would solve the current problem.

Within two months of his appointment, Ghising made an arrangement that the lights would not go on all over the country for Lakshmi Puja. He had created an environment where there would be no load shedding by shutting down industrial distribution and managing power backup of Kulekhani. After that success, his trust in her grew. As a result, four months later, they managed to announce that there would be no load shedding for domestic consumers.

Even the employees' unions within the authority are not in favor of his continuity. Employees' unions are also angry with him for not listening to the voices of the unions and moving forward in their own way. There are currently 3 employee unions active within the NEA. At this time, the workers' unions have not acted in a non-cooperative manner. However, they do not want to be weak for the next 4 years by repeating Kulman. Moreover, NEA is being transformed into three separate institutions in the current tenure. The employees are also pushing for a suitable chief executive for the adjustment of the staff in this process.

However, within a short time of coming to NEA, 2,500 employees were transferred to NEA. At that time, he did not listen to any union workers. After the transfer, the long-running leakage and theft of electricity was exposed. Millions of employees lost their income due to the transfer operation. This was one of the main reasons why the country was free from load shedding. Due to the non-cooperation of all these parties, it is almost certain that Ghising will leave the authority in the next one month. A source close to the ministry said, "If the public's protest cannot be stopped, it is a different matter.

However, this should be a favorable situation for Kulman's second term. The party that led the energy ministry when he was appointed is still a minister of the same party. When Janardhan Sharma was the energy minister, he was appointed executive director. Now, Varshaman is back in the ministry. Both ministers have former Maoist backgrounds. However, sources claim that even the energy minister is not in favor of removing Ghising.

               

Neutral Kulman about reappointment

Kulman himself is neutral on his reappointment. He is not in favor of lobbying for a repeat of his term. However, he acknowledged that their numbers were not enough to defeat President Conte's government.

"It is up to the government to decide whether or not to repeat it. But I have to be, it's not something I can do. The system that has been in place in the authority has improved internally, now no one can stop it from moving forward, 'says Ghising. However, as the work of NEA is of techno-managerial nature, it is not easy to find a person who understands technical issues and also has managerial ability, the stakeholders claim.

This is how 'Miracle' happened during Kulman's tenure.

Ghising was already aware of the fact that there is not much load shedding in Nepal despite the low power generation. He was also convinced that power could not be managed by load shedding. He says that the purpose of managing the same was initially brought by him. So he initially limited the electricity sold through industrial feeders to night time only. Arrangement was made to provide electricity only to domestic consumers during pick-up. After doing so, there was a great relief in load shedding.

Another goal was to control leakage. When Ghising came, the leakage of electricity was about 25 percent. Some of the leaks were due to technical reasons while others were due to theft. He had launched a massive transfer campaign after the employees themselves became active in stealing electricity. The transfer removes years of unauthorized distribution and theft. On the one hand, it saved electricity, on the other hand, it reduced the loss of NEA. However, no action has been taken against those involved so far.  

In this case, the overall power sector of the country will be at risk of how the NEA will get new leadership and how it will work. In order to reduce the same risk, the demand that the term of office should be repeated should be repeated.

Within two months of his appointment, Ghising made an arrangement that the lights would not go on all over the country for Lakshmi Puja. He had created an environment where there would be no load shedding by shutting down industrial distribution and managing power backup of Kulekhani. After that success, his trust in her grew. As a result, four months later, they managed to announce that there would be no load shedding for domestic consumers. "It became easier to manage demand as soon as we announced that there would be no load shedding," says Kulman. Earlier, when the lights came on, those who used to charge the batteries, those who used to run big machines, stopped using them, it became easier to manage. '

With the solution of leakage control and underwilling problems, the loss journey of NEA also came to an end. Kulman had reduced the deficit from Rs 8.89 billion to a profit of Rs 1.46 billion in one year. At the time of Kulman's arrival, the NEA's irrigated deficit was Rs 34 billion, while the government had written off the NEA's deficit by giving a grant of Rs 27 billion. Now that deficit has dropped to Rs 12 billion. Last year alone, NEA's profit was over Rs 7 billion.

But another challenge for NEA now is to increase demand. With hundreds of megawatts of electricity being added to the national transmission line and the demand in the country not increasing significantly, it is becoming more and more challenging. If Nepal plans to sell electricity to India, Bangladesh and other countries, it will not be easy. India is not willing to buy Nepal's electricity. But NEA has an obligation to increase demand or sales immediately.

NEA is currently in the process of installing smart meters, constructing multi-circuit transmission lines and upgrading the system. When this happens, the technical leakage of electricity is further controlled. This also saves more electricity. This creates more challenges.

There is a break in the plan to increase electric vehicles to increase electricity consumption. With the increase in customs duty on electric vehicles, such vehicles have become more expensive. Normally, when 10,000 electric vehicles run on the road, the demand for electricity is around 1,000 MW. As such demand occurs at night, it also helps in managing off-demand. However, the government has recently become increasingly reluctant to expand such vehicles.

NEA also has another challenge, which is the undergrounding of electricity. Underground electrification has now started to enhance the beauty of the city and manage the power transmission. However, while the challenge of concluding that process is on the one hand, the problem of power supply disruption during such upgrading will have to be resolved. On top of that, it is not easy to coordinate with various aspects including roads, drinking water, sewerage, etc. while doing undergrounding.

In this case, the overall power sector of the country will be at risk of how the NEA will get new leadership and how it will work. In order to reduce the same risk, the demand that the term of office should be repeated should be repeated.