It is typical in the winter, the dry season, for there to be water shortages. People are used to having to adjust their lives accordingly. Yet these days there are a number of other shortages that are making daily life more challenging.
Due to there being no winter rain, an alleged thirty percent increase in the valley’s electric consumption and inefficient (or basically non-existent) government, we are having major power shortages. The country is supposed to be the second richest in water resources but the hydro-electric infrastructure has either been destroyed by the war and or is just not up to the demand. The power outages are going to increase from what was three hours a day to twelve hours a day in the next month and half. Right now we have just entered the load shedding schedule of six hours a day. The Nepal electric corporation has also declared projected power outages year round (even during the monsoon) for the next five years while the hydro-power infrastructure can catch up to the current consumption rate.
Unfortunately the load shedding is not really decreasing the consumption by much. The three hours of load shedding only decreased consumption by 10% percent, when it was projected to decrease it by 25%. Jon reasoned that if three hours of load shedding only decreased 10% of consumption then if they increase the load shedding to 30 hours a day then they will have a 100% decrease. My friend quickly responded that maybe he should be appointed to the planning commission.
The reason being that they were not able to reach their projected decrease is that people have no conception of conservation or sustainability. The people and businesses who can afford it are buying these big batteries that charge when the electricity is on, which they then use during load shedding. We are guilty of this as well. We did look into solar panels but a 200 watt system that would be the minimal to charge Jon’s computer and keep the internet working for him would cost about $1,500. We were told that was too expensive an investment because we would not be able to resell it when we leave. For 12,000 rupees (about $175) we got an inverter battery rig that claimed to run his computer and the internet for six to eight hours (so far it has only had the juice for just under four). It looks like a big car battery. We have thus joined the ranks of hoarding Nepalis that make up the “haves,” that can afford short-term solutions and do not feel like investing the capital in long-term sustainable solutions.
Jon believes that Nepal is being “enroned” in order to create civil unrest. He has a point. It is hard to believe that the energy consumption has increased that much from last year to this year (I get differing answers on what the load shedding was…how quickly people forget…but it was not nearly as much). He thinks it might be pro-palace folks, I am not sure. Other people I have talked with believe it is greedy politicians that are doing something underhanded. It does not help that the water and natural resource management minister was quoted saying that there was a reason for the power shortages that cannot be divulged at this time (talk about providing fodder to conspiracy theories). Whatever it is I am sure the “have-nots” who cope and continue to do without will soon get pissed enough and begin protesting, burning tires, perhaps taking it further for whatever political cause that can convince them that they can do a better job then the current people in power. The lower class will agitate to oust the same people that they fought to get into power last year when they were not happy with the king’s government. And so the loop shall continue.
On top of that there are also petrol shortages for which there are two reasons. The first is because the Nepal oil corporation has not paid back fees to its only petrol supplier, India oil corporation. They are deeply in debt from inefficiency and corruption, but the other issue is that people don’t realize that oil is a limited resource that Nepal does not have. Anytime there is a petrol price increase, people agitate (mainly the students with whom I work) claiming this puts a burden on the common man. For some reason Nepalis think it is there right to get petrol at a rate which is below the global market price. As soon as people agitate the government gives in and they continue selling petrol at a loss.
The other reason for the shortages is that the few roads to get the petrol into Nepal from India were blocked up for three weeks due to political agitation in the south (see the blog entry on the Madheshi andolan for background). The main road that brings oil through Birgunj was blown out with burnt cars, bricks and other obstacles to the degree that no vehicles could ply the road. Unfortunately the petrol trucks are not agile enough to ply the small village roads to get out of Birgunj that the UN four-wheel drive vehicles have used to get in and out to monitor the situation.
Since the agitation was stopped for ten days in order for the leaders to have talks with the government, things have started coming across the border but slowly. Yet during the height of the agitation in the south, cars and motorbikes in Kathmandu were staying on petrol queues for up to six hours to get a ration of five and two liters accordingly. Although we do not have a vehicle, this sort of thing has made haggling with taxi drivers fun and public transportation more crowded. Jon still has not got his bike chain fixed, which broke during his second ride three months ago (par for course for cheap Chinese crap). Therefore the bike has not been an option as of late.
What will happen next is anyone’s guess. The leaders of the agitation declared a ten-day reprieve from agitation to see if the government is serious about fulfilling their demands. When I was down in the terai last week, most people told me the movement would start again in ten days (a bit of a different spin then the newspapers provided). So we will see what comes our way next.
