'CPN-Maoist showing double standard by objecting to PTA'

KATHMANDU:

Energy Minister Radha Kumari Gyawali today said that the Mohan Baidya-led Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist was showing double standard by burning copies of Power Trade Agreement (PTA) initialled by Nepal and India.

Minister Gyawali’s statement comes a few days after the CPN-Maoist and other fringe parties staged a protest at one of the gates of Singha Durbar and burnt copies of the preliminary power deal.

“I had discussed the issue on Nepal-India power trade deal with CPN-Maoist leader Dev Gurung soon after the three-party panel prepared the draft of the pact. After the meeting, he was convinced that the agreement would not put Nepal’s interest at stake,” the minister told an interaction organised today by the Confederation of Nepalese Industries (CNI) in Kathmandu.

“The power secretaries of the two countries signed on the same document that we prepared, after making minor changes. And now they (parties like CPN-Maoist) are creating a fuss, which is unfortunate,” Minister Gyawali said.

Nepali Congress Lawmaker Gagan Thapa echoed Minister Gyawali.

“When the previous Constituent Assembly was in place, a parliamentary panel formed under the Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) had instructed government to sign the PTA. At that time the party had not split and current members of CPN-Maoist had also agreed to it,” Thapa said, questioning, “How can they object to the agreement which they wanted the government to sign?”

Energy Secretary Rajendra Kishore Kshatri and his Indian counterpart Pradeep Kumar Sinha initialled the Agreement on Electric Power Trade and Cross-Border Transmission

Interconnection and Grid Connectivity in the Indian capital of New Delhi on September 4.

Implementation of the 25-year agreement, which will be automatically renewed every 10 years, will pave the way for Nepal to purchase electricity from India when production here falls and sell power to the southern neighbour whenever there is a surplus.

This deal would also provide access to domestic and international hydro project developers to the vast market in the south, where they can sell electricity generated here.

Despite these benefits, some of the fringe parties are not happy with the deal.

“This is because of the stereotype that most of the power deals fail to protect national interest. Many assume we get cheated by such agreements,” billionaire industrialist and CNI President Emeritus Binod Kumar Chaudhary said. “We have to bust that myth and reverse that sentiment prevalent among Nepalis.”

National Planning Commission Vice Chairman Govind Raj Pokharel told the interaction that the country should focus on strengthening energy security, instead of bickering on small issues that have forced people to reel under the problem of loadshedding.

“The new nationalist theme should be reducing our dependence on imported fossil fuel by allowing country to harness its hydropower potential and generating income by selling the surplus energy,” Pokharel said.

Source: THT