The chaos ensued not because of a security threat but because the PSOs couldn´t recognize the newly appointed ministers, whom they were supposed to receive and provide security. [break]
Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai had just administered oath of office and secrecy to 18 state ministers.
“Which one of them is the minister named Ghanshyam Yadav? I´m looking for him. I do not recognize him by his face,” Sushil Ghimire, secretary at the ministry of local development, asked the people standing outside the prime minister´s office.
Ghimire was there to receive the newly appointed Sate Minister for Local Development Yadav.
The plight of the police personnel who were designated personal security officers of the newly appointed ministers was no different.
“Sir, who is the minister I´m supposed to receive?” a PSO was asking a police sub-inspector standing nearby. But the sub-inspector too was ignorant, and remained silent. After a few minutes, Minister for Commerce and Supplies Lekha Raj Bhatta emerged. A civil servant asked Bhatta: “Sir, can I manage a vehicle of Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) for you?” Bhatta replied: “Yes.”
The state ministers stood at the stairs of the prime minister´s office, while their kin and well-wishers garlanded them. The PSOs, on the other, hand whispered with each other, confirmed the names and received the ministers with the vehicles.
It took around 20 minutes for the PSOs to recognize the ministers, and take them to the cars.
Related story
RSP ministers vacate quarters despite continued support for gov...
_20230226123652.jpg)
