February 20  :  The government has endorsed the action plan on doing away with the electricity shortage within a couple of years. The decision has come in the midst of prolonged energy crisis in the country.

The meeting of the council of ministers held at the prime minister's residence on thursday endorsed the scheme. The cabinet meeting has also declared National Energy Crisis Alleviation and Electricity Development Decade. Energy Minister Top Bahadur Rayamajhi said that the government was planning to expedite works on electricity generation to relieve the public from persistent power cuts. He said the load-shedding would be drastically reduced in a year and completely removed within two years. 

The plan includes completion of 22 power projects within the current fiscal year and 16 more projects by the end of next fiscal year. The ten-year plan envisages 11 hydropower projects based on reservoir. 

The action plan read out by government's spokesperson Sher Dhan Rai pledges to do away with the general electricity scarcity within a year. As per the action plan, the government would also be able to mobilize army in case of any kind obstacle to its power generation and project construction. The decision has come at a time when stakeholders have been complaining that works related to hydel projects had been repeatedly obstructed by political party cadres and local residents. The plan also has a provision to ask the banks to increase their investment in the power projects.