KATHMANDU, July 15: Government employees have spent over a billion rupees on foreign visits in the last two months. The bill includes over 1,400 trips of civil servants since May 18 this year. Some of the visits are scheduled to take place in the next few weeks.
A total of 1,442 civil servants acquired permission from the government to visit over three dozen countries from May 16 to July 11, according to a document obtained by Republica. Most of the visits included field trips, exposure visits, study tours; familiarization and observation tours that sources said were of little gains. The exact figure of foreign visits could be much higher as it does not include visits made by civil servants to countries like India.
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In total, Nepali taxpayers had to foot over a billion rupees in travel bill including air tickets and travel allowances, according to preliminary estimate of government officials having knowledge about the cost. Some visits were sponsored by organizers.
