Energy, Water Resources And Irrigation Minister Deepak Khadka has removed Bhakta Bahadur Pun and Kapil Acharya from the board of directors of Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA).

Board members Pun and Acharya vehemently opposed the decision to connect the electricity line to six industries which denied to pay tariff charged on dedicative feeder.

Although Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli and Minister put pressure to both the board members to sign the decision to connect electricity line without paying due, both the board members wrote note of dissent on the decision.

Angered by the decision, Minister Khadka, who is also the chairman of the board of directors, removed Pun and Acharya on Friday and appointed a new person on the instructions of Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli.

After removing them, Minister Khadka has appointed former secretary of energy Devendra Karki and Mahindra Bahadur Gurung, former Director General of Department of Irrigation, to the board of directors of the authority.

According to sources in the Ministry of Energy, former secretary Karki has been appointed under a Congress quota and former joint secretary Gurung have been appointed to the quota of UML.

The previous government had assigned Pun to the Maoist and Acharya to the CPN-UML (US) quota.

However, it has been found that Kulman Ghising, a member of the Board of Directors and Executive Director of the Electricity Authority, has sent a letter asking them to attend the meeting called on Sunday.

NEA’s board of directors is embroiled in a dispute over the collection of dues of dedicated feeders and truck lines. When there was a dispute with industrialists about raising more than eight billion, Energy Minister Khadka had asked for clarification from Pun and Acharya.

Clarification was sought after Pun and Acharya wrote a note-off dissent in the meeting of the Board of Directors stating that the electricity cut off in 6 industries will be reconnected only based on the instructions of the Prime Minister without paying the arrears.