Gyanendra, relatives owe 33 mn in electricity bills

Kathmandu, May 5: Suspended King Gyanendra and his close relatives owe the Nepal Electricity Authority over Rs 33 million in unpaid electricity bills, making them the country's biggest defaulters, media reports said.

The unpaid arrears account for the period since the ousted monarch assumed power on Febuary 1, 2005.

The Narayanhiti Palace tops the list of defaulters with more than Rs 24.3 million in arrears, while Nagarjun palace owes Rs 2.4 million. Similarly, Nirmal Niwas, the residence of Prince Paras, has not paid over Rs 2.3 million, while Chaunni bungalow owes the state utility Rs 1.5 million, Kantipur said quoting officials.

''This makes the royals the country's biggest domestic defaulters in electricity bills'' said an unnamed official of the electricity authority who was quoted by the Kantipur.

The figure includes unpaid bills of nine residences of the royal family and royal relatives in the capital.

All of them stopped paying their electricity dues a few months after the royal takeover on Febuary 1, 2005.

The figure, however, does not include unpaid bills of royal residences outside Kathmandu Valley, such as Ratna Mandir in Pokhara and Diyalo bungalow in Bharatpur, which also stopped paying after King Gyanendra's bloodless coup, the Kantipur said.

The names of five royal relatives also appear in the NEA's list of defaulters.

They include King Gyanendra's aunt Helen Shah with Rs 551,000 in unpaid electricity bills, the late Dhirendra Shah's daughter Pooja Rajya Laxmi Shah with Rs 505,000, Helen Shah's daughter Jyotsana Rajya Laxmi Devi Basnet with Rs 477,000, the late Prekshya Rajya Laxmi Shah with Rs 412,000, and Bharati Rajya Laxmi Singh with Rs 256,000.

In the past, royals used to pay the utility bills for their residences in Kathmandu and outside.

However, they stopped paying at various points in time after suspended King Gyanendra grabbed power by sacking the elected government.

Since July 2005, none of the defaulters bave paid their electricity bills, even after the regime change last year.

''After the success of the April movement last year, we have been regularly sending the cumulative electricity bills to the palace as well as to the royal relatives.

None have responded, let alone pay,'' the official said.

''Considering their profile, we cannot take measures such as discontinuing power supply,'' he added.

Despite being heavy defaulters, these residences do not face power cuts in a country which has been facing up to 17 hours of load-shedding per week as recently as two months ago.

UNI