Kathmandu, August 6:

Staffers of the Narayanhiti Palace, employed under the special service of the former king’s palace system, now want to be part of the government’s regular administration system through a concrete package.

The problem among the 495 staffers, remaining in the palace, emerged after the Department of Archaeology (DOA) recently sought information on palace employees.

“We have realised that after keeping us waiting for so many months, some of us are being transferred into this or that position only on the basis of personal contact. We cannot tolerate it,” said Krishna Mani Phuyal, chairman of the palace section of the Nepal National Government Employee’s Organisation.

Talking to this daily, he claimed that a high-level officer of the palace itself was trying to transfer select employees to the proposed Narayanhiti National Museum on Sunday. He said the move was foiled after staffers staged protests in the palace and in ministries. “The palace

got a letter from the Department of Archaeology on Sunday. The palace under-secretary Jayaram Maharjan began picking staffers for transfers without letting us know,” he said.

According to him, the department had demanded manpower for the proposed museum and the under-secretary nominated the names. After knowing that, the delegation of employees visited the Ministry of General Administration to find out the reality and there they learnt that the process itself was wrong.”

“It is not a matter of who should go where. We want everything to be transparent. If manpower is needed for the museum, only those who are willing to go should be selected and others should be part of the general administration,” he said.

Meanwhile, the DOA has denied demanding the palace to transfer staffers.

“We only sought information about the existing manpower in the palace. The whole thing happened because of a misunderstanding,” said an official at the DOA.