Commoners complain that the DAO recommends several seats in a single flight for leaders of political parties besides highly placed officials and their relatives.
Gor Bahadur Raut, a commoner, has been waiting for a ticket at Jumla airport for a week now. [break]
“While many ailing patients and the residents of remote region stand in a queue from early morning for the ticket for several days, others who have contacts at the DAO just need to make a phone call to get the ticket ,” he complained.
Though several booking counters have been opened by private airlines outside the airport, the commoners say that the the counters do not provide tickets. “The tickets are distributed inside the airport and the security personnel do not allow the general public inside the airport without a ticket. So, we have no option but to wait -- uncertainty,” Raut adds.
During several meetings held with the DAO, the authority had promised the locals to urge the private companies to distribute tickets from the counters operating outside the airport on the basis of first-come-first-served. “But the DAO never sticks to its promise,” complains another local resident.
Meanwhile, the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal in the district has said the airport has its own code of conduct, but the authority is finding hard to enforce it due to pressure from local politicians, contractors, hotel entrepreneurs besides the DAO.
Both the state-run Nepal Airlines and private operators such as Sita, Goma, Tara Airlines have been providing air service in the district.
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