A cabinet meeting held at Singh Durbar on Friday evening endorsed the proposal to this effect forwarded by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MoHA).
According to Minister for Women, Children and Social Welfare Riddhi Baba Pradhan, the cabinet meeting decided to recruit a maximum of 45,000 personnel for two months. They will be provided with uniform, salary and ration on par with the Nepal Police constables. [break]
Officials at the home ministry said priority will be given to retired personnel from Nepal Army, Nepal Police and Armed Police Force (APF). “We may have to recruit fresh youths as retired personnel from the police and army would not make up for the requirement,” a senior official at the ministry told Republica.
The cabinet decision comes in the wake of Election Commission (EC) on September 9 giving its nod to the government to mobilize temporary security personnel to maintain security during the polls.
Officials said the temporary security personnel to be recruited under Nepal Police will be mobilized to carry out subsidiary roles such as arranging queues and assisting police personnel deputed for booth security. All the temporary personnel will be given training before being deployed for poll security.
Challenges galore
Even as the government and the major political parties are prepared to hire temporary personal within the time allocated by EC, uncertainty still prevails largely due to shortage of time and unfolding political developments.
If the election is to be held on November 19 as scheduled, it would not only be a tall order for the home ministry to provide uniform to temporary personnel, but also to recruit them.
The home ministry, which is responsible for managing poll security, has been given 50 days to recruit temporary personnel. With only 66 days remaining for the polls and two festivals -- Dashain and Tihar -- falling in the same period, recruitment of temporary personnel would be a tough nut for the home ministry to crack.
According per the plan, the home ministry is scheduled to announce the vacancy on September 17. Aspiring candidates would be given 15 days to file their applications.
The final list of eligible applicants would be published within 10 days of the application deadline. “The recruitment process has to be completed by October 11,” said a home ministry official.
Earlier, EC was against the idea of hiring temporary security hands saying the candidates may turn out to be cadres of political parties. EC gave its consent after the government assured “no misuse of political power” in the recruitment process.
The home ministry has put youths between 18 and 40 years, especially applicants who failed to get employment in the security agencies, in the second priority.
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