Kathmandu, April 17

The immigration office at Tribhuvan International Airport no longer remains an ‘attractive posting’ for civil servants after the Ministry of Home Affairs ‘broke the nexus of employees with the smugglers’.

“As the line ministry broke the syndicate of some employees with smuggling rackets as part of immigration reforms, TIA is no more an attractive place of work for some. The MoHA has transferred suspicious employees to the districts other than Kathmandu valley,” a press release issued by the MoHA said today. It also claimed special attention would be paid to the conduct and ethics of the employees by carrying out screening and profiling before assigning them to the TIA immigration office.

Similarly, the MoHA and the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation has decided to work together to put an end to wrongdoings in the only intentional airport. “For this, inspection and monitoring of the activities will be carried out on a regular basis while improving the conduct of police and other employees, “ it informed.

According to the MoHA, the Department of Immigration has already submitted a report to the line ministry recommending measures for strengthening the immigration administration. “The ministry will act as per the DoI report. The government is also preparing to operate the TIA for 21 hours and develop an immigration desk accordingly,” the release read.

Meanwhile, the MoHA has sent a proposal to the Ministry of Finance for the increase in daily allowance of prisoners to Rs 75 from the existing Rs 45. During inspection of prison facilities in Kathmandu valley after Ram Bahadur Thapa took charge of the MoHA last month, he had assured that the government would work to increase the allowance of prisoners.

They had demanded that the MoHA increase their allowance, grant amnesty for one time to all prisoners, except those doing time for heinous crimes, ensure speedy adjudication of cases and improve their living conditions. They said 750 grams of rice and daily allowance of Rs 45 provided by the government was not enough bearing in mind the inflation. According to the MoHA, it will also urgently initiate action to transform the prisons into correctional homes. It is preparing to start a video conferencing facility for jailbirds, whose cases are sub judice.