This has reference to the news story “NEA’s power import cost to stand at Rs. 15bn” (THT, April 5, Page 12). First of all, kudos to NEA MD Kulman Singh Ghising for ending the perennial load-shedding faced by the people, particularly in the Kathmandu Valley.

Since his appointment as NEA MD he has not only ended the power-cut but also taken punitive action against the NEA employees who were helping pilfer electricity for over a decade in cahoots with industrialists and businessmen.

These days, people do not have to live under darkness and find other sources of energy such as inverters and solar panels to do even simple household chores. To be honest, if I am not wrong, Kathmanduites have wholeheartedly supported his initiatives.

But it must be taken in mind that the load-shedding was not ended overnight. The previous governments had also worked hard to build cross- border transmission lines through which electricity could be purchased from India.

Purchasing electricity from India is a long-term solution in a country which is considered to be one of the richest countries in the world in terms of water resources.

We also need to generate more energy to meet domestic demands. We also should not solely rely on hydroelectric projects which take a lot of time to complete those types of projects.

Other sources of energy such as solar-powered plants and windmills should also be explored and more investment should be attracted to these alternative sources of energy, which have now become a mainstay due to cut in prices and technological innovation in these sectors.

The energy mix policy introduced by the government to generate 10,000 MW of energy in 10 years can be achieved only through massive investment in solar and wind energy which were not considered to be viable until a few years ago.

NEA should also work on reducing leakage and pilferage of electricity, cut unnecessary staff and build more power plants within the deadlines.

Saroj Wagle, Bara

Dish washing

Most of the students that I know of coming to Australia take the dish-washing job as something that they can get without proper training. This is completely a logical fallacy.

In Australia a dish washing job is also regarded as a kind of serious position in the hospitality sector. It is associated with the occupational health and safety issues.

If somebody gets sick eating in the bad restaurant then the owner of the restaurant may be charged exorbitantly or, in a worst case scenario, the restaurant may be shut down.

Therefore, the hygiene issue is taken more seriously here. But what I see with the newcomers is that they do not attach importance to the dish-washing job.

We reflect our lazy culture though we come to a country like Australia where every job is treated in a balanced manner. We need to cultivate the culture to respect the jobs that are even manual or menial.

One must understand that every job is equally important, be it dish-washing or cab-driving.

Shiva Neupane, Melbourne