KATHMANDU: Shivam Cement Limited has yet to pay electricity tariff worth Rs 2.3 billion, said the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA).
The company has not paid power tariff for the past five years, said the NEA distribution center, Hetauda. The company headquarters is based in Hetauda Sub Metropolitan City-16 in Makawanpur district.
The Supreme Court had, two years ago, ordered the company to clear the arrears. Despite correspondence to the company time and again, the arrears have yet to be cleared, said Shashi Bhushan Sah, chief of the NEA Bagmati Province Division Office, Hetauda, adding that the NEA central office has been reported about the matter.
Although the NEA has threatened to cut off power to the company, electricity supply to the industry has not been discontinued yet.
A group of conscious citizens from Makawanpur also drew the attention of the NEA in this regard last month. Citizens’ group questioned the NEA’s silence despite the industry’s delay in payment of the arrears.
Chudaraj Upreti, secretary of the Citizens’ Youth Group, wrote a letter to NEA Bagmati Province Division Office, Hetauda last month, saying the NEA’s silence on the matter raised many questions as the industry did not pay the arrears for long. He objected that NEA was not serious about big industries whereas it cut off electricity to the homes of ordinary citizens when they fail to pay tarrif on time.
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