Nepali TV station broadcasts by lantern light to protest power cuts

A television station in Nepal has broadcast a news bulletin lit by a lantern to protest the country’s long hours of power cuts, the German news agency Deutsche Presse-Agentur reported.

Nepal is currently facing 14 hours of daily power cuts, after the Nepal Electricity Authority imposed a brown-out saying the receding water level in the reservoirs due to the dry season prevented sufficient power generation.

Kantipur Television, a private station, first broadcast its 30-minute 7 o’clock evening news bulletin lit by a lantern a year ago. ‘The move is to show solidarity with the problems faced by people because of the daily power outage. As well as to put pressure on government to work at resolving the power crisis,’ said Bijaya Poudel, deputy news chief of the TV station. Nepal produces about half the electricity it consumes.