N. P. Upadhyaya) Aryal)
Biratnagar: Much is being said across the country of the Managing Director (MD) of the Nepal Electricity Authority- NEA.
Some even eulogize Mr. Kulman Ghishing which appear more than what ought to be appreciated.
Frankly speaking, a section of the Nepali society even take Kulman Ghishing-the MD of the NEA as the messenger of God sent to correct the dangerous ailments prevailing since quite some years of Nepal’s power sector more so in the irregular, inconsistent and interrupted power supply inside the country.
The fact is that Nepali population had already endured the quite frequently interruption of “power outage in the past to an unimaginable level.
For sure, MD Ghishing did some miracles in the previous years and the credit goes to the smart and efficient MD for having almost averted the eighteen-hour long load shedding of which I personally was a prime victim while publishing the now suspended Telegraph Weekly in Kathmandu.
However, sister online portal is running even as of today.
The load shedding brokers each and every household in Nepal.
The “Inverter-Battery” business flourished to an unimaginable level.
I had first to buy an inverter-battery to discharge by weekly duties. Later that too did not work to the desired level and then had to rely on a costly Chinese Generator.
The generator business then flourished for quite some time.
Sources even suspected the hands of “some high flying corrupt ministers” to have amassed wealth out of the load shedding.
We were told that it were a calculated affair of officials-businessmen nexus. Who knows the fact?
At a much later date we came to know that a “power cartel” well entrenched inside the NEA itself (rumors had it that a few upper echelon NEA officials too were hand in globe for the continued and non-ending eighteen hour long load shedding across the country.
(Life then was a menace, I recall, in itself in the absence of electricity).
This may be false however; the laymen were given to understand that some “trade unionists” inside the NEC were extracting huge benefits from the regular load shedding. The involvement of the trade unionists in the whole affair remains still a mystery.
However, with the advent of new M.D Kulman Ghishing, things changed for the better and the panicked countrymen got a sigh of relief.
Ghising instantly became a popular hero in Nepal and abroad.
The relief came quickly when MD Ghishing took up the challenging task and intervened into the faulty “scheme of things” inside the distribution of the power supply department.
And he proved his mettle, one has to admit. The routine affair of the regular “load shedding” practically came down to a considerable level allowing the intelligent brains to conclude that “if properly managed and handled, load shedding” could well be reduced to a considerable level.
Mr. Ghishing in doing away with the power outage proved that if properly distributed then what Nepal produced was almost sufficient to cater to the needs of the population.
Ghishing apparently proved that appropriate managerial capabilities could do marvel even in the power sharing sector.
Let’s be frank in admitting the fact that MD Ghishing did all he could to send positive signals to the “users” that he means prompt actions and that given the support from the team that he has been receiving assistance since long will work more to further stabilize the power supply chain across the nation.
But now the question is whether the same energy with which MD Ghishing worked remains intact even as of today? Perhaps not.
Having all praise for MD Ghishing, however, my personal conclusion of late is that Ghising-the once messiah of the power sector- has in these days diverted his attention from the acts that had in essence elevated his ordinary ranks to a towering personality at least in the Nepal’s power domain.
Bluntly speaking, ‘power-delivery’ across the country is not regular and that his claim or say the slogan “use domestic electricity and replace LPG Gas import from India” is just a farce now in that the “power supply in Nepal is not only bad but has reached to a level which challenges even Mr. Ghishing’s previous credentials.
The challenges are still valid.
For example, in Biratnagar where this News Portal has a branch office in Panchali, Biratnagar-1, Nav Jyoti Marg, can rarely post even a small news on the website ( telegraphnepal.
com) because of the grand escapade of the power supply here intermittently.
Regular power supply has already become a rare commodity.
Just imagine, if my small branch office of the News Portal can’t function well then how others who need uninterrupted and high voltage power supply round the clock could do business?
And we talk of selling “power” to neighboring India? How funny it sounds?
Can a business/economic activities flourish in the nonappearance of regular power supply? Can the illusionary slogan of replacing the LPG Gas consumption be avoided altogether? Perhaps impossible given the erratic power supply in Biratnagar which may resemble elsewhere as well inside Nepal.
The unreliable outage of the supply system makes it pretty difficult to take NEC’s verbal slogans in its face value.
Says energetic youth Masum Aryal-a permanent resident of Panchali close to the office of the ‘Telegraph News Portal’ that the “usual interruption of power supply in Biratnagar has already become a regular occurrence and that MD Ghishing appears less interested these days and years to send the signals to the countrymen that he is the same MD Ghishing who did away with the horrendous load shedding of eighteen hours some years ago.
Or has he joined politics?
The main objective of this story is to invigorate Managing Director Kul man Ghishing to renew his pledge once again to “help his countrymen” from the unexpected threat of disruption of the power supply in Biratnagar.
MD Ghishing must understand that temperature in the entire Terai belt has already soared up and what the increased temperature in Terai means to the Teraians?
It is time to act MD Ghishing as fast as you can. Will you listen to the problems of the Biratnagarites and elsewhere ?
Your time to act begins now.
Happy New Year to you all.
That’s all.