Kathmandu, March 3:

Employees of Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) today announced the fourth phase of agitation against the government’s decision to unbundle the NEA into three sectors (generation, transmission and distribution) through an ordinance, which is under consideration at the council of ministers.

According to the plan, the NEA employees would stage a sit-in programme at the NEA headquarters, various NEA branches in the capital and outside for an hour beginning March 6 to 10.

The NEA Employees’ Union, the authorised trade union, however, made it clear that they would be ready for talks if the government created conducive environment for the same. The Ministry of Water Resources, in a letter to the union on February 28, invited it for talks to sort out the problem.

The Ministry, in the letter, has made it clear that the ordinance was aimed at it unbundling the NEA into three companies based on the water resources development policy brought by the then elected government in 2001.

The ordinance also envisages to creat an Electricity Regulatory Board to monitor the generation, transmission and distribution of electricity. The ministry has also claimed that the ordinance was prepared only after holding extensive discussions with stakeholders and experts concerned.

The employees’ union, however, claimed that it was not consulted with and was not even provided a draft of the ordinance before it was presented in the council of ministers for approval.

Kumar Ojha, president of NEA Employees’ Union, said they deserved the right to dissent even if it was approved by the then elected government. “What we say is that NEA’s unbundling will not be instrumental for the development of the electricity sector in the country,” he said.