29 March, Kathmandu : The International Relations and Labour Committee of the parliament has directed the government to stop the process of awarding the visa processing contract to a private company.

Citing the country’s security situation and integrity, the government has been directed to immediately stop the process and submit before the Committee all the documents concerning the matter, the Committee Chair Prabhu Shah said.

All the 15 parliamentarians speaking at the Committee’s meeting today had protested the government decision to involve a private company in the visa processing work, and called for its withdrawal.

Furthermore, Chief Secretary Lilamani Poudel said the Nepali civil servants were capable enough to handle the visa processing work.

Former Prime Minister and UML leader Madhav Kumar Nepal emphasized on the need of an extensive deliberations among all the stakeholders as the process had raised many eyebrows.

Also accepting that further discussion is required on the proposed technology for visa processing, Foreign Minister Mahendra Bahadur Pandey however said a final decision on it was yet to be taken. The process is aimed at modernizing the immigration service of the country, which is weak in technology, he said. RSS