Early morning, with a sip of tea, I was going through my daily dose of the newspaper. Suddenly, a public notice caught my attention. It read like this: ‘Important notice to Ministries of Nepal Government and Government Offices to pay electricity bill within 15 days’. According to Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA)’s notice, an outstanding payment of Rs. 663million remains from 20 ministries and a constitutional body as of Baisakh.

The highest defaulting ministry is Ministry of Home Affairs with outstanding payment of Rs.175 million. Similarly, other top defaulters  are Ministry of Health: Rs.152 million, Ministry of Peace and Reconstruction: Rs.136 million, Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives: Rs.56 million, and the list goes on.

The ministry that announces the government budget, Ministry of Finance, has yet to pay Rs.3 million to NEA. Interestingly, Secretary of Ministry of Finance is also in NEA’s Board of Directors. We, the general public, do not understand these dirty political games.

NEA has threatened to cut the supply of electricity if the government bodies do not pay the electricity bill on time. In fact, NEA has dared to warn the government bodies. Otherwise, NEA is nothing more than a government puppet. The Government makes laws, rules, and regulations and when the government bodies themselves do not comply with rules and regulation, it is a big shame.

The ministry that is supposed to make laws and provide justice (Ministry of Law and Justice) has yet to pay the electricity tariff of Rs.2 million to NEA.

I remember older people’s saying, ‘Sana lai ain, thula lai chain’. It is crystal clear that rules and regulations are only made for poor people. If the general public do not pay electricity bill for three months, NEA disconnects the electricity supply. Whereas the government bodies have not paid electricity tariff for a long time and they are still enjoying light. After all, it’s the government, stupid.

Government bodies are one of the major reasons fueling load-shedding and the degradation of NEA’s financial health. To rule on general people’s hard earned money and being corrupt are the only things that the government bodies know. Nepal abolished the 240-year monarchy in 2008, however, monarchism mentality still prevails within the government.

Government bodies are the supreme powers and they can defy all the rules and regulations. Instead of New Nepal, ‘No rule in Nepal for government’ has emerged. This is leading the country to nowhere but failure. Development cannot take place till disparity between the general public and the government remains.