The prime minister has taken a direct interest in the Nepal Telecommunication Corporation's Six Telecom Project. The project is to lay cables across the country at a cost of over Rs 10 billion. Apparently, the prime minister could not stay aloof. That is proved by the moves to award the contract to a company whose ability to perform is suspect. Sources say the former communication minister had almost decided to award the project to a Chinese company, which is known to be very proficient at the task. Sri Harsh Koirala, who is the agent in Nepal for many big Indian companies, didn't like that.

The prime minister then stepped into the picture, called the concerned minister, the secretary and the deputy minister and asked them to stop the deal with the Chinese company and award the job to an Indian company. Now, Sri Harsh has become very active. He called the telecommunication secretary and the chief of the NTC and told them to cancel the deal with the Chinese. The prime minister's nephew has been successful in getting what he wanted to a limited extent. But both the NTC and the National Planning Commission have said the Indian company will not be able to complete the project. NPC member, Rameshananda Vaidya has even put it in writing that the Indian company will never be able to complete the job. Many say the NTC dealings could be the beginning of another Lauda Air scam.