A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) was filed in Supreme Court against the decision of Nepal Government and Nepal Investment Board second extension of Upper Karnali financial closure date to GMR. The petitioners claimed that the petition is illegal.

The petitioners include Chanda Thami, Sarad Singh Bhandari, Ratan Bhandari and Janmadev Jaisi from affected areas. Petitioners demanded to scrap the Upper Karnali Agreement with GMR as there is no provision for the extension of financial closure.

Since signing the agreement between Nepal Government and GMR three years ago, this is the fifth writ file in the Supreme Court. According to petitioner Ratan Bhandari, the hearing will begin from February 15. The petitioners argue that the Project Development Agreement (PDA) gives just a year to GMR for financial closure.

"This extension is illegal as there is no such provision in PDA. It should be scrapped," demanded water activist Ratan Bhandari. " Since this is the cheapest project, Nepal should develop it by its own rather than giving it to GMR, which has shown its inability to finance the project."

According to PDA, there is no provision for extension of the financial closure.   As per the earlier study, the capacity of Upper Karnali was 300 MW. However, it was upgraded to 900 MW now.

This is one of the cheapest project sites to generate hydropower.