Weeks before inauguration by PM Modi, blast at Nepal’s hydroelectricity power plant

The blast occurred in eastern Nepal's Tumlingtar area, almost 500 kms from national capital Kathmandu.

The explosion comes at a time when the site was being readied for PM Modi to inaugurate the project when he visited Nepal on an official tour on May 11. (Files)

A bomb went off at the office of a hydroelectricity plant project in Nepal, weeks before Prime Minister Narendra Modi was to lay the foundation stone. The blast occurred in eastern Nepal’s Tumlingtar area, almost 500 kms from national capital Kathmandu. India is helping build Nepal develop the project. The compound wall of the plant’s office in Tumlingtar was damaged in the explosion, Siva Raj Joshi, chief district officer of the Sankhuwasabha district, told news agency PTI.

There were no injuries or loss of life in the explosion, PTI quoted Joshi, adding that a probe has been initiated. As of yet, no individual or group has come forward to claim responsibility for the same, he said.

The explosion comes at a time when the site was being readied for PM Modi to inaugurate the project when he visited Nepal on an official tour on May 11. The 900 MW Arun III Hydroelectric Power Plant is scheduled to become functional by 2020.

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State-owned Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam (SJVN) had signed a Project Development Agreement (PDA) for the hydroelectric plant project on November 25, 2014, during PM Modi visit, in the presence of then Prime Minister Sushil Koirala. The project is expected to rake in $1.5 billion FDI into Nepal, and give job creation a big push.

Sunday’s explosion is the second within a month at Indian properties in Nepal. A pressure cooker bomb had gone off close to the Indian Embassy field office in Nepal’s Biratnagar on April 17. The walls of the premises had been damaged then.

(WITH PTI INPUTS)

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