CHITWAN: Amid growing concern over irregular electricity supply and rumors of load-shedding in Chitwan, Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) Managing Director Hitendra Dev Shakya arrived in the district on Monday morning to personally oversee and expedite the resolution of the technical issues plaguing the Chanauli Distribution Center.
Shakya’s unexpected visit comes as a technical team from the NEA is working around the clock to restore normal electricity supply, with the goal of resuming full power distribution by Monday evening.
“There is no load-shedding,” Shakya clarified upon his arrival in Chitwan. “We are facing technical issues at the Chanauli substation and are working to resolve them as quickly as possible.”
The Chanauli 33/11 kV substation has been under pressure due to excessive load on a narrow 33 kV transmission line from the New Bharatpur Baseni substation. While the Chanauli station is built to handle up to 300 amperes, demand has surged beyond 450 amperes, overwhelming the system.
NEA teams have been working throughout the night despite continuous rainfall to fix the faults. “Our technicians are doing everything they can to address the issues swiftly. We are optimistic that power supply will normalize from Tuesday,” Shakya said.
Shakya also visited the Bharatpur Distribution Center to assess additional challenges in the region. He further shared plans to travel to Janakpur in Madhesh Province to monitor electricity-related concerns, including the installation of deep boring systems — a commitment recently made by Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli to address drought conditions in the south.
Meanwhile, NEA’s Deputy Executive Director of Distribution and Customer Service Directorate, Dirghayu Kumar Shrestha, stated that a 24-megawatt power connection in eastern Chitwan’s Hardi area has been completed and a new transformer is currently being charged. Load transfer is expected to begin by the end of Monday.
“To manage long-term power demand in Chanauli, the final phase of a new 33 kV transmission line from the 132 kV Baseni substation to Chanauli is underway,” Shrestha said.
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