Case against Upper Karnali hydel project

TWENTY-NINE individuals from districts affected by the Upper Karnali Hydropower Project have filed a petition in the Supreme Court against the government and the project’s developer GMR, seeking an interim order for the suspension of all activities related to the project. The petition coms at a time when the talks on power development agreement between the Investment Board Nepal (IBN) and GMR are underway. The petition seeks an order to ensure the rights of the locals while developing the 900-MW project, and a prohibitory order for not taking ahead the PDA negotiations. The petitioners have named the Prime Minister’s Office and the Council of Ministers, Energy Ministry, IBN, Finance Ministry, Environment Ministry, Department of Electricity Development, GMR, Upper Karnali Hydropower Project, and GMR-LTD Consortium as defendants. The government had signed the MoU with GMR on January 24, 2008 for the construction of Upper Karnali. After five years of hiccup, the PDA negotiations moved restarted in March. The IBN has already held first round of negotiations with GMR.