CIAA Moves

THE Commission for Investigation of the Abuse of Authority has started a probe on two faulty deals the Royal Nepal Airlines Corporation struck two and a half years ago with its Europe-based sales agents incurring a loss to the tune of 15 million rupees. That was one more occasion when the ailing national flag carrier was in for a setback. In one deal 140 tickets were provided as an incentive to the Teres D'Adventure of Paris and 132 tickets to Bright Sun Travels of London to boost the number of passengers in the Kathmandu-Europe route. A team of RNAC staff flew into Europe and studied how the Kathmandu-Paris-Kathmandu and Kathmandu-Paris-Kathmandu sectors could be strengthened. The recommendations of the team were taken by the then management as "wrong". Nevertheless, the then management took the decision that led to the huge loss for the national flag carrier. That same amount could have paid for the company employees in a more certain way for a month or two or it could have paid for the repair of some of the planes in the domestic sector.

The details of who were involved in what stages of the deals as individuals or organisations will be clear as the CIAA investigation proceeds. But what is reassuring now is CIAA, going by the determination with which it has pursued corruption cases before, will not budge until it brings the defaulters to the book. At this stage of investigation, it is but natural that the people involved in the faulty deals, wittingly or unwittingly, will try to prove their innocence. Everyone is entitled to get that chance. This, however, does not mean that these people, whether in the management or at other strategic levels, during the time when "wrong" recommendations were made or "wrong" decisions were taken on that basis, can continue to shift blame to others. As the CIAA probe proceeds, it is only fitting that the company employees feel their stakes in helping it find out the truth and bring the culprits, who must have amassed a large sum of money from the distribution of free tickets that miserably failed to rope in more passengers, and the general public lends its moral support to the anti-corruption body of the country.

Upgrading TIA

WITH the implementation of the Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) Modernisation Project, the nation's only international airport, as per a news item carried out by this daily the other day, is much safer than it was a decade ago. It may be recalled that when the masterplan for the modernisation of TIA kicked off in 1994, the Japanese government has been extending sizable amount of grant assistance for the installation of the radar navigation system and the upgrading of the communication systems of the Air Traffic Control (ATC) centre located there. Ever since TIA came into existence about five decades ago, it has not only been contributing its share to the nation's development endeavours but has also been witnessing a sea-change in its physical infrastructure, facilities and services. The simple reason being that ever since the nation opened up to the outside world in the early '50s, the TIA has been the nation's only air-link with the outside world. As such, it is not only the sole conduit through which the landlocked nation's various exportable items are air-freighted to various markets overseas but, more importantly, it is the only airport through which tourists, in their thousands, still arrive to savour the nation's varied tourist-related attractions. Along with the gradual increase in external trade and tourist arrival figures, the TIA, to keep pace with the rising demands for more facilities for the exporters, tourists and airlines, also began to upgrade the airport's infrastructure. Especially in terms of expanding its runway and installing modern aeronautical navigation and communication systems.

Notwithstanding the TIA's laudable efforts to upgrade its facilities, it still seems to be found wanting as far as providing optimum flight and navigational facilities to the rising frequency of plane arrivals. The occurrences of aircraft accidents, especially during landing times, are a case in point. However, in all fairness to the TIA, such unfortunate accidents were few and far in-between. But still, whenever an accident occurs, the TIA could be forced to bear with a tarnished image and reputation in the international aviation arena. Hence, if TIA were to keep intact its image and reputation abroad as a very safe and modern airport, then it looks to reason on the part of the concerned authorities to explore all available avenues to continuously upgrade its existing infrastructure and facilities in general and its aeronautical navigation and communication systems in particular.