Kathmandu. More than 4,000 entry passes issued for entry into the restricted area of Tribhuvan International Airport have been found to be active in the system even after the employee has been transferred, retired, resigned or left service.
Deepa Dahal, press and research expert of Prime Minister Valendra Shah, informed that the study report conducted under the direction of the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers to further strengthen the security system of Tribhuvan International Airport found that 4 thousand 72 passes of employees who are not currently employed were found to be active.
According to him, under the direction and coordination of the Prime Minister’s Office, the process of deactivating the active old entry passes issued by the Nepal Civil Aviation Authority for entering restricted areas has been accelerated.
According to Mukesh Dangol, director general of the authority, the process of collecting 507 of the 4,722 entry passes that are not working but active in the system has been started and the process of destroying them and deactivating them from the system has been started. Director General Dangol informed that a circular has been issued to the relevant agencies to return the passes of the employees who have been transferred, some employees have voluntarily returned the passes and some have been contacted by phone and asked for their return.
According to Dahal, the Prime Minister’s press and research expert, the government is immediately implementing the necessary improvements by keeping the security and sensitivity of the airport as a top priority.
The Prime Minister’s Office has given the responsibility of coordination to Secretary Gobind Bahadur Karki to make it effective. In the same coordination, study, monitoring and improvement work related to airport security has also been carried out. According to the authority, from January 1, 2024 till now, 12 thousand 402 permanent entry passes with photo and 1 thousand 413 temporary passes without photo have been issued for a total of 13 thousand 815 passes for Tribhuvan International Airport. Among them, seven thousand 677 passes with photo are active and four thousand 725 passes are inactive, while one thousand 328 passes without photo are active and 85 are inactive.
The authority said that the process of deactivating the entry pass is being conducted regularly according to the Tribhuvan International Airport Restricted Area Entry Permit Management Procedure, 2080 (Third Amendment).
According to rule 20 of the procedure, if the employee is not in charge due to transfer, retirement, resignation or any other reason, the entry pass must be returned within three days.
According to the authority, 201 organizations of government, non-government and private sectors are affiliated to Tribhuvan International Airport. As each organization appoints employees according to its own rules, the classified details of permanent, temporary and ‘outsourcing’ employees are not immediately available.
According to Director General Dangol, the entry pass is usually issued for two years. According to the report, if such passes are not deactivated immediately, there is a risk that they may be misused at the airport premises or elsewhere.
Considering the security and other sensitivities of a sensitive area like the airport, the Prime Minister’s Office has paid attention to the improvement and security of this area. Accordingly, the Prime Minister’s Office has started this initiative after studying the issue of the airport entry pass and suspecting that it might be misused.