KATHMANDU, JULY 23
Amidst a series of scams grabbing headlines in quick succession, the recent illegal passage of gold from Tribhuvan International Airport and the forced disposal of the valley's garbage with the help of Armed Police Force and Nepal Police has drawn the attention of the public.
Security forces are yet to put the culprits behind the gold smuggling racket behind bars.
It is said the fake Bhutanese refugee scam and Lalita Niwas land scam were the priorities. But now the smuggling of more than a quintal of gold from the TIA has preoccupied the government and security forces.
Netizens and mainstream media have said that the passage of such a large volume of gold through customs is impossible without the involvement of government employees.
Three employees of Tribhuvan International Airport's Customs Office have been suspended following the gold smuggling incident on July 18.
The suspended employees include, the airport's customs officer Santosh Chand and two non-gazetted second class officers Kumar Dhakal and Saroj Shrestha. A high-level employee of the department told THT that the involvement of employees in the case seemed inevitable.
"In fact, the employees were informed about possible gold smuggling in a similar consignment.
"Around 586 kilograms of Gold was brought through TIA in the last fiscal. TIA has collected revenue worth NRs 59 crores 33 lakhs," according to the TIA officer.
Similarly, Nepal police seized 660 kg gold in the last nine years and jailed 706 people involved in gold smuggling.
It also said around 200 kg gold was seized in the fiscal year 2017-18 which is the highest till date.
The government has had to deal with these scams and the gold smuggling racket one after the other. Besides, the detractors and the opposition haven't made things any easier.
CPN-UML's sister organisation Rastriya Yuwa Sangha, protested demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal and Home Minister Narayan Kaji Shrestha and thorough probe into the gold smuggling racket.
The perception is that the security forces and authorities involved in the management of TIA were well informed about the gold coming in.
Netizens have also been asking across social media platforms.
"How is it that officers at the TIA dig out mobile phones weighing a few grams while they fail to find a quintal of gold? How is it that coins produce sound on the detector, but the sound of gold being smuggled is silent?"
On another front, since July 17 the victims who have to bear the brunt of garbage from KMC have been agitating against the arbitrary way waste is being disposed by Katmandu metropolis.
The locals of Kakani Rural Municipality and Dhunibesi Municipality have been saying, "Either kill us or shift our settlement somewhere else," their slogan is, "We don't want your dirt."
The obstruction by locals of Banchare Danda against garbage carrying vehicles is yet to be resolved.
On July 20, the government sought the help of more than a hundred security forces, including the Armed Police Force and Nepal Police to dump the waste at Banchare Danda landfill site.
Police forcefully evacuated the locals and took around 150 trucks to the landfill site.
"You cover your face with double mask and still complain about having to stay a minute here. Just imagine, we are compelled to eat, sleep and play amid the stench and flies," said a local youth.
"We used to swim in Kolpu Khola, but the water has now turned into poison due to the liquid that oozes from the waste," said Raju Ghimire, a local, "We eat and sleep all the time with closed windows. I challenge KMC denizens to come and spend ten minutes with us. I guarantee they cannot stay here even for a while."
While the Lalita Niwas and the fake Bhutanese refugee scams have piled pressure on the government to act with a sense of urgency, Kathmandu metropolis' perennial waste management problem and the 'enough is enough' protest of people of Bancharedanda has put not only the metropolitan authority, but also the government in a situation it can neither resolve nor wash its hands of.
A version of this article appears in the print on July 24, 2023, of The Himalayan Times.
