The Agriculture and Water Resources Committee under Legislature-Parliament held a meeting on Sunday to discuss the situation of hydropower and the Ministry’s strategies on it.

 The meeting held under the chairmanship of the Committee’s Chair Gagan Thapa termed the recent ‘unofficial blockade’ by India was a wrong step. The committee said the blockade has not only made the daily life miserable but also has exposed the vulnerability existing in the country’s energy sector. 

The recent fuel crisis has taught us the difficulties the country like ours has to face when have to completely rely on a single country and at the same time lacks alternative sources and adequate storage facility.

The meeting stressed on the need to take immediate measures to curve the crisis of fuel security and concluded that it is indispensible to formulate policies for national energy security.

The meeting also decided to direct the Energy Ministry to prepare and submit a national energy security policy through coordination among Water and Energy Commission, Nepal Oil Corporation, Nepal Electricity Authority, Ministry of Forests and Soil Conservation, Alternative Energy Promotion Centre, among other entities and experts, including private sectors. 

Also, the meeting decided to draw the government’s attention to put the issue of long term energy security in priority and initiate policies, programmes and strategies related to it. 

The next meeting of the committee has been scheduled for 8 am on Monday.