September 23: Minister for Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation Barsha Man Pun has accused hydropower projects of indulging in “copy-paste” of Environment Impact Assessment (EIA).  Minister Pun claimed that some hydropower projects were found plagiarizing the Environment Impact Assessment instead of preparing the report on their own before starting a new project.  He said that only the names of the organizations have been changed while the rest of the report is exactly the same in many cases.

Arguably, this is the first time that a sitting minister has raised questions regarding the authenticity of the EIA prepared by hydropower projects.

EIA is prepared by projects to assess the impact of the proposed project on the geography, bio-diversity, economy, financial and cultural aspects of the area where the project will be set up.

Minister Pun made such remarks during the launch of EIA by Modi Khola Hydropower Project in the capital on Sunday, September 22.

He said that the report should have been unveiled in the affected area rather than somewhere else where only a handful of stakeholders can be present.