KATHMANDU: UN’s various Nepal-based missions are found spending millions in the name of visits during the lockdown imposed to curb the wide-spreading coronavirus.

According to sources, highly-placed officials of various UN missions in Nepal like UN Women, ILO, UNRC, UNICEF, WFP, UNFPA, IOM, etc. are spending millions in their visits to various provinces.

As COVID-19 rages on, UN agencies here have been spending millions in unnecessary field trips executed under the name of monitoring.

The chartered flights to different provinces can hardly be worth the support deemed essential during such a crisis.

However, UN officials have tried to justify the spendthrift travels in the name of monitoring the situation and coordinating in a ground-based way.

Valerie Julliand, the UN resident coordinator in Nepal, have tried to justify the lavish travels saying “if several people from Kathmandu would like to visit a certain province, [they] can combine the travel”.

However, the UN being the organization that works in coordination with various agencies, especially assigning the focal role to anyone agency under it, the cost for chartered flights for so many officials can hardly be justified.

Besides, most UN agencies have their field or province offices in most of the province headquarters.

Instead of working on the coordinative efforts, the UN Agencies in Nepal seem committed to finishing the budget.

According to sources, Word Food Program (WFP) country office in Nepal has borne the travel expenses, whereas the entire visit of the UN agencies is coordinated by the UN Resident Coordinator’s Office (UNRCO).

One among the various trips under the Rs 10 million trip plan was initiated via Tara Air’s flight to Nepalgunj and Surkhet on Thursday morning.

Sources claim the flight was chartered by WFP. Amid the pandemic crisis, the local levels and provincial governments are striving for the most needed health materials.

However, the UN agencies have tried to defend the extravagance as part of their responsibility.

Replying to the query related to the rationale behind such lavishness Valerie Julliend from UNRCO said, “The situation in Nepal has reached a critical humanitarian stage, and we are trying to help the government at all levels, without burdening them. Moreover, we have also raised money for the country, which directly goes to the government.”

However, one of the former high officials in the UN opined that the visit was not only ill-timed but also against the humanitarian principles of the UN.

“In such global organization, justification of each penny should be from heart, humanitarian feelings, the made-up logic merely show the abuse of the power and resources” the official spoke under anonymity, “besides, the details can be collected from the field or provincial offices.”

While contacted for further information about facilitating the trip, Home Ministry sources expressed ignorance.

“Nobody has facilitated the trip on behalf of the ministry,” said Kedar Nath Sharma, the spokesperson at the Ministry of Home Affairs, “Ministry of Foreign Affairs could have done it.”

However, senior officials at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) expressed their ignorance about such ongoing visits.

“Since the central COVID-19 Crisis Management Centre (CCMC) and the Federal Ministry of Health and Population are coordinating all the COVID-19-related tasks, the heads of UN agencies must be coordinating with them,” a top official at the MoFA spoke on the matter.