KATHMANDU: Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Prem Bahadur Ale has pledged to end irregularities at Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA).

He made this statement during a surprise monitoring at the airport Monday. During the monitoring, he said that service providers in and around the airport are found to have been fleecing service seekers under various pretexts. For instance, tea stalls, groceries and cabs serving to passengers were found to be fleecing them by charging high for their service, he said.

Similarly, Minister Ale sought a written response from the director of the Nepal Airlines Corporation (NAC) on the issue of its aircraft which on Sunday took off from Kathmandu to Bhojpur leaving some passengers behind. “I have directed action against those having a hand behind the incident. Relations with passengers should be cordial,” he said.

He expressed the hope that NAC would operate e-ticketing soon as he said he earlier directed in this regard. He also pledged to upgrade the NAC. Efforts were underway to manage parking lots in Dhangadhi, Nepalgunj, Pokhara, Bhairahawa and Biratnagar for aircraft so as to relieve TIA, he said.