Govt to pay top dollar to new NEA MD
KATHMANDU:
The newly appointed managing director of Nepal Electricity Authority Dipendra Nath Sharma will be drawing a monthly salary of Rs 2.5 lakh!
The hefty remuneration to Sharma is likely to raise other officials\' hackles, and questions are being raised whether NEA would see smooth functioning when there is such a disparity in salary. Sharma\'s deputy and other high-level officers are drawing a monthly salary of around Rs 30,000.
A former MD of NEA doubted whether someone with such an extremely handsome salary would get proper support from his staff who do most of the job and are underpaid. According to him, an MD at NEA used to get Rs 39,000 whereas his deputies drew Rs 30,000. The general managers had to be content with Rs 25,000. “How can an organisation function when there is such a huge difference in salary among the staffers,\" he said.
As per NEA’s organisational structure, there are four deputy managing directors and five general managers who work directly under MD. The Ministry of Energy, however, said it was working out to narrow the gap. \"The bylaws will be amended and performance-based incentive will be introduced,\" said Energy Minister Gokarna Bista.
The newly appointed managing director said he had proposed Rs 1.75 lakh as leadership incentive and Rs 1.25 lakh as performance incentive besides his salary (Rs 39,000), but the ministry agreed to pay him Rs 2.5 lakh. “It has almost been agreed upon,” added Sharma. But Energy Secretary Balananda Paudel said though the ministry was positive on the proposal, it was yet to finalise it. “We are still in negotiation stage and will finalise the issue very soon,” said Paudel.
It is said that Sharma demanded such a hefty amount citing the risk he had to bear by leaving the Ministry of Peace and Reconstruction, where he was working as the joint secretary. But Sharma said, “I am still a government employee and have not left the job.”
Another former MD, however, told this daily that Minister Bista had asked Sharma to join his ministry as director general of the Department of Electricity Development. \"But Sharma was brought to NEA after he refused the earlier proposal,\" he said. A three-member panel headed by former water resource secretary Suryanath Upadhyay had selected Sharma as the new managing director of NEA.
Sharma, who received his appointment letter today, said, “This is an opportunity for me. I have challenges ahead to fix a troubled organisation.\"
Source: THT
The newly appointed managing director of Nepal Electricity Authority Dipendra Nath Sharma will be drawing a monthly salary of Rs 2.5 lakh!
The hefty remuneration to Sharma is likely to raise other officials\' hackles, and questions are being raised whether NEA would see smooth functioning when there is such a disparity in salary. Sharma\'s deputy and other high-level officers are drawing a monthly salary of around Rs 30,000.
A former MD of NEA doubted whether someone with such an extremely handsome salary would get proper support from his staff who do most of the job and are underpaid. According to him, an MD at NEA used to get Rs 39,000 whereas his deputies drew Rs 30,000. The general managers had to be content with Rs 25,000. “How can an organisation function when there is such a huge difference in salary among the staffers,\" he said.
As per NEA’s organisational structure, there are four deputy managing directors and five general managers who work directly under MD. The Ministry of Energy, however, said it was working out to narrow the gap. \"The bylaws will be amended and performance-based incentive will be introduced,\" said Energy Minister Gokarna Bista.
The newly appointed managing director said he had proposed Rs 1.75 lakh as leadership incentive and Rs 1.25 lakh as performance incentive besides his salary (Rs 39,000), but the ministry agreed to pay him Rs 2.5 lakh. “It has almost been agreed upon,” added Sharma. But Energy Secretary Balananda Paudel said though the ministry was positive on the proposal, it was yet to finalise it. “We are still in negotiation stage and will finalise the issue very soon,” said Paudel.
It is said that Sharma demanded such a hefty amount citing the risk he had to bear by leaving the Ministry of Peace and Reconstruction, where he was working as the joint secretary. But Sharma said, “I am still a government employee and have not left the job.”
Another former MD, however, told this daily that Minister Bista had asked Sharma to join his ministry as director general of the Department of Electricity Development. \"But Sharma was brought to NEA after he refused the earlier proposal,\" he said. A three-member panel headed by former water resource secretary Suryanath Upadhyay had selected Sharma as the new managing director of NEA.
Sharma, who received his appointment letter today, said, “This is an opportunity for me. I have challenges ahead to fix a troubled organisation.\"
Source: THT
