Nepal is again stuck in the darkness of undeclared load shedding. As the government is officially announcing that there is no load shedding, it has become common for the lights to go off for a few hours every day from the small towns of the country to the capital.

Industries and businesses are at a standstill, students' studies are affected and ordinary citizens are forced to spend the night in darkness. But at the moment, the government officials are silent and are giving defensive statements as if they are not ashamed.

Loadshedding is not a new pain for Nepalese people. Until about a decade ago, the country was forced to live in darkness for 12-14 hours a day. But the same country experienced load-shedding-free situation for 8 years under the leadership of Kulman Ghising. Even in the midst of the same power generation capacity, the same structure, the same challenge, the people felt the light. Was it a miracle? No, that was the result of management and accountable leadership.

Hitendra Shakya is replacing Kulman today. Deepak Khadka is in charge of the Ministry of Energy. But people are starting to remember the old scary days again - darkness, uncertainty and false promises. Spokespersons of the government and the authorities keep coming up with new excuses day by day, India didn't provide electricity, IPL match happened, transfer went wrong, storm came. But the question is clear - were these problems not yesterday? If so, why was the solution possible at that time? And if they were not, why are they today?

Yesterday's management was focused on the idea of ​​'how to make the most of the available resources?' Today's leadership seems to be busy with the exercise of 'how to show the lack?' When the minister himself stands in parliament and says 'load shedding is possible' and admits that the MD has failed in management, that moment the government has accepted its own incompetence. In such a situation, in a normal democracy, the minister and the chief executive resign bearing the moral responsibility.

But in Nepal, instead of that, they are still sitting on their chairs. No shame, no self-criticism. Now the question is not only loadshedding, but a serious crisis of the system. The government's job is not to make excuses, but to provide solutions. Leadership is judged by results, not speeches and posters. If Energy Minister Khadka and Authority Chief Shakya have any morals left, they should apologize to the public and resign. Otherwise, history will remember them only as the dark returners. Because there is no electricity in the country now, there is no shame.

- Santosh Simkhada , Tokyo, Japan