Kathmandu, July 18

The Ministry of Agriculture and Land Management’s has sent 59 civil servants on observation visit to India, ignoring an order from the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers.

A government official said the ministry’s decision to send 59 employees on the foreign trip in the name of observation tour was the misuse of taxpayers’ money. MALM Secretary Yubak Dhoj GC, had on July 3, approved the foreign trips of three teams.

The ministry sent two teams for observation visit under the Prime Minister Agriculture Modernization Project Management Unit of the MALM. Two teams of this unit comprising 37 members left for India on July 14. Another 22-member team is scheduled to leave for India tomorrow.

A complaint was registered at Hello Sarkar yesterday and the OPMCM today ordered the line minister not to send civil servants on foreign trips. But the two teams had already left for India. One team is supposed to leave for India tomorrow. “We acted immediately after we received the complaint,” said Pradyumna Upadhyay, an under-secretary and in-charge of Hello Sarkar at OPMCM.

Information Officer of the MALM Maniratna Aryal admitted that some employees had already gone to India and others were scheduled to leave for India tomorrow. The third team of 22 employees scheduled to leave for India tomorrow includes three second-class officers, 15 third class officers, two non-gazetted officers and two computer operators. The team will go to Rajasthan and other parts of India on a weeklong trip.

Under the PMAMPMU, a total of 13 employees (seven second-class officers, three third class officers, two non-gazetted officers and one under-non-gazetted officer) had gone to India on observation visit. The team, which left for India on July 15, will visit different parts of the southern neighbour and will return to Nepal on July 21.

Another team of the PMAMPMU comprising 24 employees (15 second- class officers and nine third-class officers) also left for India on observation visit. This team will also return on July 21.