The Tribhuvan International Airport Immigration Office has been seen slaggy in its service flow in recent days. The officers in of immigration claim the efficient service has not been provided due to insufficient staff. Out of 121 immigration officers assigned to the airport immigration office, only about 90 are currently working.
Gogan Bahadur Hamal, the chief of the immigration office at Tribhuvan International Airport, says that the shortage of staff is affecting service delivery. According to him, they have requested additional staff from the immigration department and the ministry due to the shortage of employees.
“When there is a shortage of necessary services, even if some employees are regrouped for most demanding services, the service flow becomes slower,” he said. “We have informed the ministry and department about the need to send additional immigration officers according to the quota.”
Hamal also mentions that even though there is no shortage of other staff, there is a significant shortage of authorized personnel to stamp passports for travel permits. He explained that as there is a need to provide services to nearly 17,000 travelers daily, the problem arises when there is a shortage of manpower.
The ministry states that some employees are unwilling to go to immigration. On January 28, Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister Narayan Kaji Shrestha informed the State Affairs and Good Governance Committee of the parliament that employees were hesitant to go to the airport immigration office. “Initially, it was a race to go there,” said Minister Shrestha. “Even now, some employees who have been transferred back to the immigration office for the third time have not been able to go there.”
According to sources, after some employees returned to the immigration office for the third time, about 24 of them were sent back. They were given support to return home with the possibility of being involved in human trafficking under the guise of visit visas.
After that, the Ministry has not been able to fill the vacant positions. According to sources, currently, there are more authorized personnel in the Ministry along with the National Disaster Management Authority and the Prison Management Department than required according to the quota.
However, the Ministry admits that there are not enough staff to provide essential services by reducing the clash between the Ministry and the departments.
