Parliamentary panel stalls meeting, insists on long-term PTA documents from government

KATHMANDU: Members of the Infrastructure Development Committee in the House of Representatives (HoR) have insisted that the government furnish them with copies of the formal agreement pertaining to the long-term Power Trade Agreement (PTA) made with India.

This demand was raised during a session of the parliamentary panel held on Tuesday. The lawmakers made it clear that they would not permit the meeting to progress until they were provided with the documents related to the long-term PTA with India.

The gathering commenced in the presence of Minister for Energy Shakti Basnet and Managing Director of Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) Kulman Ghising. However, the lawmakers stressed that the meeting should only proceed once they were given access to the documents concerning the long-term PTA with India.

Previously, a significant 10,000 MW electricity trade agreement had been inked between Nepal and India. The lawmakers contended that there was no justification for holding the meeting until the PTA documents were made available to them for thorough review and discussions.

Despite the presence of MPs CK Raut, Thakur Gaire, Pratima Gautam, and others, the meeting faced an impasse as they declared their refusal to address any other agenda until the pertinent agreement documents were delivered to them.