India blames Nepal for delay in signing power trade agreement
KATHMANDU, March 5: Indian power secretary Pradeep Kumar Sinha has pointed a finger at Nepal for not playing a proactive role in signing the much-awaited power trade agreement, as he called on the government to immediately take the initiative to create a joint mechanism that instantly addresses such delays.
“Nepal has been raising the issue of power trade agreement and it is said a draft has also been prepared. But frankly I haven’t even seen the draft so far,” Sinha said, addressing a talk session on ‘Growth of Indian Power Sector’ organised jointly by the Indian Embassy in Nepal and the Nepal-India Chamber of Commerce and Industry, here today.
Sinha’s statement was a blow to Nepal’s assertion that it has long been pushing to enter into such an agreement with India to facilitate unlimited import and export of power between the two countries.
Sinha’s statement has also exposed the indifferent attitude of the Nepali bureaucratic system, which does not even bother to find out whether important documents have landed on desks of the concerned people abroad.
Nepal has long been trying to enter into a power trade agreement with India so that it can purchase any quantity of electricity during lean seasons and sell any quantity of power during the peak seasons. Once such a pact is signed, it will replace the existing Power Exchange Agreement between the two neighbouring countries which caps electricity trading.
“One of the reasons why we have not been able to sign this agreement is due to lack of frequent communication between the power ministries of the two countries.... In fact, there is no communication at all,” Sinha said, warning such a vacuum may even create misunderstanding on various issues between the two countries.
He then called on Nepal to immediately take the initiative to create a mechanism that directly engages the energy ministries of the two countries to work on various issues of national importance.
Such a body, according to Sinha, could take crucial decisions on development of energy sectors of both the countries, including signing of the power trade agreement.
“India and Bangladesh have managed to sort out various issues related to power because of the establishment of such a mechanism,” Sinha said.
Currently, India and Bangladesh have a three-tier mechanism in place — one at the secretary level, one at joint secretary level and another is the joint technical committee.
“Because of this mechanism, we were able to construct high-voltage direct current transmission lines (considered superior to alternating current transmission lines) between the two countries within the deadline of two-and-a-half years,” Sinha added, implying formation of such a body may also be of interest to Nepal.
Source: THT
