Minister for Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation, Deepak Khadka, has set up his office within the main building of Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA).

Minister Khadka has been in a tussle with the NEA’s Managing Director Kulman Ghising for the past few weeks over the issue of industrialists defaulting on the electricity bills for receiving electricity through dedicated feeders and trunk lines. While Ghising is on the side of recovering the due amounts even by disconnecting electricity supply to the defaulting industrialists, Khadka seemingly intends to let go of the industrialists without paying the electricity dues.

The rift between the topnotch of the power utility surfaced after Minister Khadka intervened in Ghising's decision to cut electricity supply lines to the industrialists. Ghising asserts that the industrialists need to pay the dues based on the electricity bills sent to them. But Minister Khadka, who is also the chairperson of the NEA board, says the authority needs to recalculate the bills based on the TOD meter.

It is not normal for the chairperson of the board of an organization to maintain a regular office to oversee the day-to-day operations. However, Minister Khadka has established his office in the main NEA building, claiming that the structure aims at carrying out a study on the actual bills of the TOD meter which the NEA had issued earlier.