Nepal Police spends Rs 2.4 billion per annum on rations for its 60,000-strong force. They have been forking out nearly Rs 300 million every year by way of commission margin for contractors.[break]
A report recently submitted by Nepal Police at the behest of the Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA), which has been probing the ongoing rations contracts in view of reported irregularities, has recommended that the existing contract system for supposedly distributing rations in kind to every cop be reviewed and replaced by a new practice of providing a ration allowance instead, together with the salary.
Almost 75 percent of police personnel are found to have received ration money through contractors instead of rations in kind. As per the financial regulations that Nepal Police follows, a cop posted anywhere in the country should obtain a rations package of 14 different items. But this rule is followed only by around 17,000 police personnel who are posted to 30 different units like companies, battalions and regional training centers and are accommodated in barracks.
Nepal Police had fielded two panels headed by Deputy Inspector Generals (DIGs) Birendra Babu Shrestha and Parashuram Khatri respectively to investigative possible irregularities in bidding procedures for ration contracts. The panels visited 18 districts and submitted their reports to police headquarters last week.
“We did not find any instances of irregularity as suspected by the CIAA,” said an official who worked with the panels. “Though the report will primarily be handed over to the CIAA, it will also go to the Home Ministry. The recommendation to nullify the contract system is the main thrust of our report,”
“We also want the CIAA to pass the recommendations on to the government,” he said.
“We have strongly stressed in our report that the ration contract system could be abolished entirely, apart from some special provisions for specified remote locations or barracks units,” he said. “We have also suggested that MoHA start working urgently for that purpose.”
MoHA lukewarm
MoHA itself has been indifferent toward reviewing the existing ration contract system. “The ministry itself has been shying away from taking any initiative to that end despite our repeated efforts,” said senior police officials who have long been lobbying to end the contract system.
Granting of rations contracts to private parties usually lands up in controversy and is often considered a regular source of corruption within the police organization. Chief district officers, who preside over the local price monitoring committees, are also alleged to have benefited time and again from the rations contracts.
“Home Ministry officials often say that they cannot exclude the Nepal Police alone from the existing ration contract system because the Armed Police Force (APF), another department under the ministry, and even the Nepal Army are following the same practice,” said police officials. “This is ridiculous.”
“We suspect that there is some sort of power play within the ministry not to eliminate the practice from the Nepal Police because it benefits officials in many ways,” said some officials. “Some other quarters are afraid that Nepal Police could set a precedent for getting rid of a major financial malpractice.”
“If the contract system is abolished, the amount that contractors have so far been charging as commission margin would go into the pockets of the staffers themselves,” they said.
Police spokesman DIG Navaraj Dhakal was not available for comment despite repeated efforts to contact him.
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