It is time to act decisively to control smuggling of any kind through the TIA
Even a week after a huge cache of gold being smuggled out of Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) was seized, it remains an enigma as to who actually owns the yellow metal. Ten people, including a Chinese national and an Indian of Tibetan origin, have been arrested so far in the gold smuggling incident of July 18. The question is, will the identity of the mastermind behind the operation ever be revealed or will this fizzle out as all such cases have been in the past? Social media is already speculating, and rightly so, about how the government and political parties are trying to hush the matter while pointing fingers at each other at the same time to fool the people. Gold bars weighing 100 kilos had successfully passed through the customs office where all imported goods need to go through gold detectors and careful manual check. Acting on a tipoff, officials of the Revenue Investigation Department were able to seize the gold that had been loaded in a taxi and was about to leave the premises of the customs office.
The gold hidden in boxes containing motorcycle brake shoes had arrived from Hong Kong on a Cathay Pacific flight, but it is still not clear where the contraband was destined, although the boxes were being imported by a Nepali trading firm. The arrest of nationals from three countries - Nepal, India and China - shows the involvement of an international gang in smuggling gold in and out of the country. This is not the first time that gold has been smuggled into the country in large quantities, although a quintal of gold in one go is perhaps the largest. It has come to light that more than 4.27 tons of gold have been smuggledinto the country in the last 10 years - 3.8 tons by the Gore gang alone - however, much of that gold was never recovered. Six years ago, a gold smuggling case involving 33 kilos of gold had created a big sensation in society after three of those involved committed suicide and the porter used to ferry gold was tortured and killed following the disappearance of the smuggled gold from the streets.
Investigations are underway in the latest gold smuggling case, and three employees of the TIA customs have been suspended. It is apparent that the gold could not have passed through the customs without their involvement. They are, however, small fries in the long chain of racketeers, and without getting to the kingpin, the TIA will remain a haven for gold smugglers. So will the other two international airports at Pokhara and Bhairahawa, where smugglers are likely to divert their operations. Home Minister Narayan Kaji Shrestha has vowed to investigate the gold scam and get to the bottom of the nexus to bring the guilty to book. Let us give him the benefit of the doubt, although he is burdened by investigations into big scandals that have rocked the country - the fake Bhutanese refugee scam andother corruption scandals. It is time to act decisively to control smuggling of any kind through the TIA, otherwise we will be seeing other forms of contraband, such as drugs and arms, also entering the country through it.
Paddy plantation
Due to lack of proper irrigation facilities in most parts of the country, especially in the Tarai region, paddy plantation this year has declined compared to the previous years.
Paddy plantation should have been almost completed across the country by the second week of July.
As per the Department of Agriculture, paddy plantation was completed on just 68 per cent of the total arable land, which is 20 per cent less than that of last year.
The Meteorological Forecasting Division had previously forecast that there would be below or just normal rainfall in most parts of the country during this year's rainy season that lasts for four months.
As per the data, there has been below average rainfall in western and far-western Tarai region, which is the food basket of the country. Below or erratic rainfall, mostly in the Tarai region, means there will be less paddy production, resulting in food shortage in the days to come. The country should not depend solely on the monsoon rainfall, which has become delayed or unpredictable due to climate change. The government needs to make huge investment in building a large network of irrigation canals in the plains so that fertile farmland could be irrigated round the year to ensure a bumper harvest of cereal crops.
A version of this article appears in the print on July 24, 2023, of The Himalayan Times.
