KATHMANDU: The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of the House of Representatives has formed a subcommittee to investigate the procurement of uniforms for election police.
The committee formed a nine-member subcommittee at its meeting on Friday, led by Manish Jha, a lawmaker from the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP). The subcommittee has been given two months to complete its study.
The subcommittee members are Ain Mahar, Yogesh Gauchan Thakali, Aren Rai, Khagendra Sunar, Khushbu Oli, Ramesh Kumar Malla, Ganesh Dhimal and Mahendra Bahadur Shahi.
Nepal Police procured uniforms for election police in January. Lawmaker Khagendra Sunar has repeatedly raised questions over the procurement process, alleging irregularities.
For the March 5 election, Nepal Police recruited 133,980 election police personnel, while the Armed Police Force recruited 15,110. Together, the two security agencies deployed 149,090 election police personnel.
The government allocated between Rs 50,954 and Rs 86,484 per election police personnel, depending on the geographical area of deployment. The allocation covered salaries, rations, transportation and lunch expenses for 40 days.
The government also allocated separate amounts for uniforms based on the deployment area: Rs 11,500 for personnel deployed in the Himalayan region, Rs 7,945 for those in the hilly region and Rs 6,170 for those deployed in the Tarai. According to police officials, around Rs 1 billion was released for election police uniforms.
Nepal Police Headquarters also provided Rs 848 per person as travel preparation expenses for deployment and return, along with a lump-sum Rs 1,200 for lunch during four days of training.
The disputed expenditure relates specifically to the uniform procurement. Complaints were filed with various authorities alleging that election police, who were recruited for only around one and a half months, had been provided with substandard equipment.
Comment