Indian companies under fresh Maoist threat in Nepal

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Sudeshna Sarkar | 08 Feb, 2010
Two major Indian companies and a third multinational firm are headed for tough times once again in Nepal with the former Maoist guerrillas asking them to stop work.

Though the Himalayan republic is going through one of its worst power crisis ever with only two to four hours of electricity available during day-time, the Maoists have turned their sights once again on the three companies that have signed agreements to develop three of the biggest hydropower projects totalling nearly 1500 MW.

The Hyderabad-based GMR specialising in infrastructure, energy and highways, Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam, a joint venture between the Indian government and the government its Himachal Pradesh state, and Australia's Snowy Mountain Engineering Corporation (SMEC) now face the spectre of fresh disruptions by Maoists.

A GMR-led consortium became the first foreign company to enter Nepal's thorny hydropower sector after the fall of King Gyanendra's government and the restoration of democracy in 2006.

While GMR is to develop the 300 MW Upper Karnali project in one of the most inaccessible and underdeveloped regions of Nepal, Satluj was given permission to develop the 400 MW Arun III hydropower project.

An SMEC-led consortium, which has India's IL&FS as a partner and India's Power Trading Corporation as the buyer, was contracted to develop the 750 MW West Seti hydel project. However, though the deal was inked in 1997, the project is yet to be realised, due to frequent disruption and political instability.

On the Indian Republic Day this year - Jan 26 - the Maoist party unit in Upper Karnali asked GMR to stop work.

Though the threat was condemned by Nepal's ruling parties, on Friday, the threat was renewed by senior Maoist leader and former minister Lilamani Pokhrel, who described the three projects as going against Nepal's national interests.

Pokhrel, chief of the Maoists' water resources division, alleged that India intended to send troops to Nepal under the pretext of guarding the hydel projects.

"India is seeking to sabotage the new constitution and push anti-national projects that serve its own interests," the Maoist leader said at an interaction held in Kathmandu Friday.

Another Maoist member who attended the interaction, Dharmendra Bastola, said the regional units of the Maoist party were going to formally announce their bid to close the projects.

Former Maoist minister Gopal Kirati, who had found himself in the eye of a storm during his brief stint in power by trying to intimidate and sack the Indian priests appointed at the Pashupatinath temple in Kathmandu, also said that Arun III authorities had been asked to stop work immediately.