Nation»
Passport hassles add to people’s woes
KATHMANDU, JUL 26 -
The serpentine queue of passport applicants at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) shows the sorry state of the country where people see no academic and career prospects, thanks to political instability having ripple effects on all sectors.
Maiya Rai, who hails from Morang, has been queuing up for passport for the last three days. Finding the environment here not favourable for employment, she wants to try out her luck in Dubai. Harrowing tales of exploitation and torture of Nepali women in the Gulf countries do not seem to deter her. “I don’t see any future here,” she said.
View of another applicant Sameer Aryal is hardly different. He has recently completed his Grade XII and is compelled to go abroad to pay off his family’s loan. Frustrated by frequent strikes and the political chicanery, he says, “The political leaders are busy fighting for positions rather than thinking of generating employment opportunities for youths like us.” The majority of the applicants want to fly abroad for study and employment opportunities. Those from outside Kathmandu Valley are compelled to come here and wait for many days to get passports. Adverse weather condition and expensive lodging charges have added to their woes.
The serpentine queues have been a common scene on the MoFA premises after it stopped distributing passports from district administration offices after April 1, the deadline for Nepal to switch on to Machine Readable Passport (MRP). According to MoFA Spokesperson Durga Prasad Bhattrai, passport applications at the MoFA Central Passport Office ranges from 800 to 1000 at present. “We have appointed more officials to issue passport on time and might establish separate desks for men and women if the crowd becomes unmanageable in the days to come,” he said.
Most of the time, the security guards deployed there find tough time handling the queue. At times, they are compelled to use force to manage the crowds.
“We start our job from 8 a.m. and it’s frustrating to keep on managing the queue all the day. Sometimes we are compelled to baton-charge the applicants when they disrupt the line and ignore our request,” said police personnel Anil Kumar Singh.
Among applicants are students who are unwilling to study in Nepal as sporadic strikes and protests staged by different
interest groups cripple college routines.
“I have no motivation to stay here. Selfish politicians don’t give a damn about our future,” said Sudeep Baniya, who is planning to go abroad for study and does not even wish to return if the political chaos persists. “What is more frustrating is that we cannot even get a passport easily. I don’t know how long the youths like me will withstand this disorder.”
Posted on: 2010-07-27 08:26
Headlines
Advertisements
