Kathmandu, March 19 (IANS) April 1 bodes to be no laughing matter for Nepal with the fledgling republic heading for a passport disaster as the ruling parties continue to bicker over a bid by an Indian company to print new passports.
As per the norms of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), Nepal needs to switch over to the more progressive machine-readable passports by April 1.
If the government fails to make the leap, it will not be able to issue new passports from April 2 unless ICAO agrees to extend the deadline.
With less than a fortnight left for the deadline, the coalition government has yet not decided which printing company should get the job.
The indecision began after the government called for a global tender and four companies were shortlisted. They include firms from France, Indonesia, the Philippines and Malaysia.
However, Foreign Minister Sujata Koirala, who is also the deputy prime minister, is asking the government to award the contract to the state-owned Security Printing and Minting Corp of India.
Though the cabinet has been mulling over the proposal, it was unable to endorse the decision immediately due to pressure by a group of MPs.
Lawmakers belonging to the parliamentary Public Accounts Committee have shot down Koirala's proposal, saying the Indian offer is among the most expensive. It has asked the government to continue with the earlier bidding process it had initiated.
With time running out for the new passports, Koirala says if the contract goes to the Indian company, being Nepal's next-door neighbour, it would push itself to meet the deadline and would also ensure security while issuing the new travel documents.
International travel norms require that Nepalis have the machine readable passport from April 1, failing which they will be barred from travelling abroad.
Nepal is a major exporter of manpower. According to the foreign minister, daily nearly 600 people head for jobs abroad while another 400 leave for education and other purposes.
An Indian team was supposed to visit Nepal to work out the details of the passport project but the visit was cancelled after the Nepal government failed to reach an agreement.
The cabinet is headed for a meeting Friday when the matter will be taken up once again.
A twist was given to the bids for the new passports soon after the Indian offer came. Now a Chinese company has also expressed interest in joining the fray, saying it would do the job at 50 cent less than the $4 per passport offer by the Indian company.
Today : Saturday - May 26, 2012, 11:36am (GMT+5.5)
