KATHMANDU, Jan 29: The dispute between the Nepal Police deployed for security at the Tribhuvan International Airport and the staff of the Department of Immigration (DoI) at the airport on Friday is not a new issue. The tussle between the staff of DoI working at the TIA and the Nepal Police stationed for security has been going on for a long time. Friday’s incident in the name of security checks is just the latest episode of the long-standing rivalry.

About 12 years ago, in 2068 BS, the civil servants protested saying that the police were to blame for the suspension of the then chief of DoI, Shadananda Dhakal in the diplomatic passport scam. At that time, the immigration officials were accused of being involved in allowing people with fake travel documents to travel through the airport in return for hefty kickbacks in collusion with the staff of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The then Joint Secretary Dhakal was suspended in connection with this case. He was later acquitted by a special court.

Then in 2070 BS, 21 immigration officials were suspended en masse. There was a shortage of staff after the officials of the DoI were suspended at once. When the Ministry of Home Affairs tried to send civil servants to the airport, none of the staff agreed. Afterwards, the staff of the Public Service Commission (PSC) and the Ministry of Land Management were transferred to the Ministry of Home Affairs and sent to the immigration office of the TIA.

The Immigration Office of the TIA, which was under the control of the police before 2046 BS, was handed over to the civil servants after the restoration of democracy. At present civil servants are handling the responsibilities related to immigration. The government formed after the people’s movement of 1990 took away the responsibility of immigration from the police and handed it over to the civil service, mentioning that the police could not maintain good governance in the immigration office. The democratic government also accused that the immigration was not transparent under the police and justified the decision to hand over the immigration duties to the civil servants to maintain a balance of power at the TIA. The police have never been complacent about the entry of civil servants into the immigration office of the TIA.

On the other hand, the police accuse the civil servants of colluding with middlemen and sending people abroad through setting. In the year 2068 BS, there was a lot of blame game between the police and the immigration officials. The rising tensions were settled by the then-home minister and chief of the police.

Later in 2070, the then Deputy Prime Minister Bam Dev Gautam made an action plan to hand over the airport’s management to the police after the staff of the immigration office at the TIA vacated the immigration desk in protest on March 22, 2014, alleging that the police and the Commission for Investigation of Abuse and Authority (CIAA) had interfered in their tasks at the TIA. 

Sharad Chandra Paudel, the then director general of DOI, took the stand that the erring staff should be punished but the management of immigration should not be given to the police. This foiled the action plan of Gautam. 

During that incident, Home Minister Gautam suspended about 21 staff after the inquiry committee formed under the coordination of the then joint secretary of the Ministry of Home Affairs, Yadav Koirala, found that the immigration staff at the TIA committed serious mistakes. The then Inspector General of Police Upendra Kanta Aryal also made a special request to handover the responsibilities of the immigration office to the  Nepal Police.

Arguing that there was a reduction of crime in immigration offices controlled by the police in many countries, the police officials requested the government to provide the responsibility of not only the TIA but all other immigration offices across the country to the police. But the plan could not materialize as the then home ministry administration did not agree to the proposal of the police.

Even when Maoist leader Janardan Sharma was the home minister in 2074 BS, preparations were made to hand over the immigration offices to the Nepal Police. Under pressure from Minister Sharma, the then Home Secretary Lok Darshan Regmi called the then head of the DoI, Gangaram Gelal, to the minister’s office and instructed him to start preparations to give the police the responsibility of the Immigration Office. But behind the minister’s back, the then Home Secretary Regmi incited other staff and did not allow the plan to proceed ahead. Later, when he became the chief secretary, no one raised this issue.

Following Friday's incident, discussions have started to take away the responsibilities of the immigration offices from civil servants and hand them over to the Nepal Police. The Ministry of Home Affairs accused the civil servants of not being able to effectively manage the DoI and the offices under it and to control criminal activities at the airport. Discussions have been started to hand over the management of all the other 10 offices under the DoI to the Nepal Police.

Immigration provides entry and exit permits to tourists from Kakarvitta, Birgunj, Kodari, Bhairahawa, Nepalgunj, Dhangadhi, and Gaddhachauki checkpoints. At one time, the first choice of staff working in influential sections and divisions of the Ministry was the immigration office at the TIA. Government sources claimed that the government has deployed the Armed Police Force (APF) to check the security of the customs and is preparing to hand over the responsibility of the immigration to the police due to the recent controversies.

After sending the APF for customs security checks, Home Minister Narayan Kaji Shrestha has started discussions with Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal to allow the police to operate the immigration offices.

 “The government has realized the need to maintain the balance of power at the airport. Incidents of staff of DoI involved in fraudulent visit visas and other factors deteriorating the quality of services have started to surface. In such a situation, it will be better to hand over the airport to a single agency,” said a source close to the home minister.

Sources claimed that Minister Shrestha has started discussions on giving the responsibility of the airport immigration to the  Nepal Police due to allegations that civil servants are not able to handle their responsibility transparently and prevent crimes effectively. The police have been trying to take responsibility of immigration for a long time, accusing civil servants of not being capable enough to handle immigration.

Meanwhile, the civil servants are not ready to give up their stakes at the immigration office of the TIA, stating that high ranking police officers including DIGs and SSPs assigned for the security of the TIA have been suspended for their involvement in smuggling.

Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal has directed the Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister  Shrestha to facilitate the internal dispute between the two governmental bodies under the Ministry of Home Affairs at TIA. Dahal has instructed Shrestha to take action after ascertaining who is at fault. Prime Minister Dahal had a discussion with the Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister Shrestha after the employees working in the two agencies forgot their responsibilities in a very sensitive area like the airport.

Meanwhile, the civil servants complained to Prime Minister Dahal about the incident at the airport.

Similarly, Chief Secretary Dr Baikuntha Aryal expressed concerns to the prime minister regarding recent incidents involving police actions at the airport. He pointed out that while standard protocol for addressing issues with personally assigned staff typically involves barring them from entering the airport or reprimanding them at their department, the current approach has escalated to police teams physically assaulting staff members. Dr Aryal said that these aggressive actions by the police are causing significant challenges at the administrative level.

While the civil servants complained that the recent activities of the police were making their work difficult, Chief Secretary Aryal and other secretaries complained that the fight between the police and the staff at the TIA had also affected the image of the country.

Gogan Hamal, the head of the Immigration Office, was assaulted by a police constable Raviranjan Gupta stationed at the TIA’s departure hall at around 12 PM on Friday.

The scuffle started when police constable Gupta tried to check the body of Chhaya Lal Moktan while the officer of the immigration office was going to the passenger waiting room.

When Hamal raised a question about the manhandling of an immigration officer, Moktan, the police constable Gupta manhandled Hamal himself.

After the information reached the Ministry of Home Affairs that the police had misbehaved with the immigration staff and the immigration chief Hamal, the director general of the DoI, Rudra Singh Tamang, also reached TIA to take stock of the situation, but the problem could not be resolved.

The government has formed a three-member committee, coordinated by Joint Secretary Thaneshwar Gautam to probe the incident. The team comprising Nepal Police's Deputy Inspector General Rajeshnath Bastola and Immigration Administration's Under-Secretary Kul Bahadur GC is mandated to submit a report within three days with recommendations.

TIA immigration office staff in protest

The staff of the TIA Immigration Office have put on black armbands during duty hours to protest against the alleged police excesses and the assault of staff at the airport.

The immigration staff may have made a mistake during the security check, but the employee did not physically engage with the police. On the contrary, the staff claimed that the police overreacted by physically assaulting the head of the immigration office. They also accused the police of making a false statement that the policeman on duty was forced to take physical action in self-defense.

"If any person makes a mistake, we are ready to face action according to the law. But it is a serious issue if the security personnel assigned for security assaults the head of the immigration office," said a staff of the TIA Immigration Office.                                                   

 
• DoI
 
• TIA
 
• security