December 26: The private sector has complained that the Nepal Electricity Authority disconnected power supply of dedicated feeder and trunk line without taking enough initiatives for the resolution of the dispute over electricity tariff arrears.    
They accused the government of disconnecting the lines without showing seriousness on addressing the six-year-old dispute of payment of electricity arrears of dedicated feeders and trunk line.    
The Nepal Electricity Authority has started disconnecting power supply from Friday, stating that various industries using dedicated feeders and trunk line did not pay the electricity tariff since a long time.    
Issuing a press statement on Monday, the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry said a high-level commission should be formed to resolve the dispute of arrears of dedicated feeders and trunk line.    
Similarly, the Confederation of Nepalese Industries organised a press conference in Kathmandu on Monday and said disconnecting the power supply of industries without taking efforts to resolve the problems was unfortunate.    
The CNI warned of seeking legal remedy against this act of NEA. CNI President Rajesh Kumar Agrawal mentioned that industrialists have been discouraged due to NEA's act of disconnected the power supply line without taking initiatives to resolve the problems.    
The NEA on Friday had disconnected the power supply to Jagadamba Steel, Reliance Spinning Mill, Ghorahi Cement, Arghakhanchi Cement, Sarbottam Cement, Laxmi Steel, as well as other industries.    
The issue of payment of electricity arrears of different industries using dedicated feeders and trunk lines surfaced around six years ago. The NEA had been supplying electricity to the industrialists through the dedicated feeder and trunk line at extra charge during the time of load-shedding.

The industrialists complain that the NEA has been charging extra rate even though load-shedding ended long time ago. The dispute between the NEA and industrialists has not been resolved yet. Courts, parliamentary committees, Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority had directed the NEA to collect the arrears.    
The NEA disconnected the power supply after the industries turned a deaf ears to NEA's request to pay the dues. -- RSS