Kathmandu, January 12

Nepa Hima Trade Link, which had got the tender for supplying 214 tonnes of paper to Janakpur Education Materials Centre for printing school text books, has been accused of supplying low quality paper. Police have impounded four vehicles loaded with 'substandard paper.'

According to JEMC Managing Director Anil Kumar Jha, the supplier company was required to supply 68 GSM paper but it supplied only 67 GSM paper. Out of the total supplied paper, the supplier company had taken back 164 tonnes of paper telling JEMC that it would bring back the paper specified in the contract, but it brought back the same 67 GSM paper following which locals protested against the company. 'Locals gathered outside our office protesting against the supplier company. We had to call cops to control the mob,' Jha said.

Deputy Superintendent of Police deployed in Bhaktapur Raju Pandey said the police had impounded four vehicles loaded with paper since yesterday and had told the supplier and JEMC to keep the paper as it was until the concerned agencies completed their investigation.

Jha said that his office would send the sample to Nepal Bureau of Standards and Metrology for the verification of the quality of paper in question. Earlier, the JEMC had told the supplier company to take back the substandard paper and bring back quality papers after Nepal Bureau of Standards and Metrology gave its report that the paper supplied by Nepa Hima Trade Link did not meet the specified criteria and was substandard. Bhaktapur District Administration Office and the concerned ministry are also looking into the matter. Nepa Hima Trade Link company reps could not be contacted for comments.

A version of this article appears in the print on January 13, 2023, of The Himalayan Times.