An investigation directed by the Prime Minister’s Office has revealed that over four thousand airport entry passes are still active even after employees have left their jobs or got transferred.
More than 4,000 entry passes issued for the restricted areas of Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) are still active in the system. These passes belong to employees who have already been transferred, retired, resigned, or left their service.
The Security Discovery and Actions
To make the security of Tribhuvan International Airport stronger, the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers’ Office ordered a special study. Deepa Dahal, who is press and research expert for Prime Minister, said that the study found 4,072 passes of former workers still showing as active in the system. Following this, the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) has started working fast to deactivate these old passes.
The Director General of CAAN, Mukesh Dangol, informed that they have already collected 507 of these active passes. They have started punching holes in them to destroy them and are deleting them from the system. CAAN has also sent letters to various offices asking them to returning the passes of transferred staff. Some employees have returned their passes voluntarily, while others are being contacted over phone to return them.
Government Focus on Airport Security
According to the Prime Minister’s press and research expert, the government is giving very high priority to airport safety and sensitivity. Secretary Govinda Bahadur Karki has been given the responsibility to coordinate these airport improvements. Under this coordination, airport security study, monitoring, and reform works are moving forward quickly.
Pass Statistics at TIA
According to the data from CAAN, a total of 13,815 entry passes have been issued for Tribhuvan International Airport since January 1, 2024. This includes 12,402 permanent passes with photos and 1,413 temporary passes without photos.
Among the passes with photos, 7,677 are currently active and 4,725 are inactive. Out of the temporary passes without photos, 1,328 are active and 85 are inactive in the system.
Rules and Risk of Misuse
CAAN explained that the process of deactivating entry passes is done regularly according to the Tribhuvan International Airport Restricted Area Entry Pass Management Procedure, 2080 (Third Amendment). Rule 20 of this procedure says that if an employee is transferred, retired, resigned, or is no longer in their role, they must return their pass within three days.
Currently, there are 201 government, non-government, and private organizations connected with Tribhuvan International Airport. Because each organization hires its staff under its own rules, the classified details of permanent, temporary, and outsourced workers are not immediately available.
Director General Dangol said that these airport passes are usually issued for a period of two years. The investigation report warned that if these passes are not deactivated immediately, there is a risk they could be misused inside the airport area or elsewhere. Following the suggestions of the report, the Prime Minister’s Office has directed to speed up the deactivation work to keep the airport completely safe.
AI Disclaimer: This article was originally published on https://bajarkochirfar.com. It has been translated with the help of AI. For the best understanding and accurate facts, we recommend reading the original Nepali version.
