KATHMANDU, FEBRUARY 11

The Ministry of Home Affairs has enforced the Singha Durbar Premises Security Action Plan to strengthen security of the administrative headquarters of the Government of Nepal and prevent the entry of unwanted persons.

The Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers and all the ministries except the Ministry of Health and Population, in addition to the National Planning Commission, National Investigation Department and several other departments are situated on the premises of Singha Durbar.

The action plan was developed by a committee led by Premlal Lamichhane, an under-secretary at the MoHA. The committee also comprises representatives from the Nepali Army, Nepal Police and National Investigation Department.

Joint Secretary Chakra Bahadur Budha, MoHA spokesperson, said the action plan was put in place after consultation with stakeholder ministries.

The action plan includes short, medium and long-term security strategies based on the present security situation of Singha Durbar. An official said the MoHA was preparing to deploy additional security personnel in conformity with the action plan, bearing in mind the past lapses and future risks.

Similarly, MoHA is set to arrange vehicle scanners in all the four gates of Singha Durbar to ensure that no one can enter the administrative secretariat of the Government of Nepal with concealed arms and explosives.

Currently, police conduct security scanning of vehicles manually.

As per the action plan, MoHA is also working to install more CCTV cameras to monitor the entry and exit of people and government employees.

On an average, around 10,000 people enter Singha Durbar daily. The official said body scanning machines and more walk-through gates would also be installed. Currently, only the southern and eastern gates are equipped with walk-through gates.

MoHA has also tightened the system of pass distribution to the general public for entry into Singha Durbar to discourage the movement of intermediaries, who often cheat unsuspecting persons on the pretext of getting them job and arranging their meeting with ministers, secretaries and other officials. In addition, MoHA has prohibited taking of photos inside Singha Durbar without permission. A version of this article appears in the print on February 12, 2021, of The Himalayan Times.