Govt decides to procure 700,000 passports from IDEMIA

KATHMANDU: The government has decided to procure 700,000 units of electronic passports from the current supplier for an interim period.

Government Spokesperson and Minister for Communication and Information Technology, Jagdish Kharel, told journalists that the cabinet meeting held on Friday decided to authorize the Department of Passports to purchase 700,000 e-passports from the current supplier through a variation order.

The government decided to procure passports from the French company IDEMIA as an interim measure, as the new German vendors will not be able to supply passports before March. The government awarded the contract to supply 6.4 million passports over the next five years to German firms Veridos and Muehlbauer in the first week of June.

The decision was taken as the Department was running out of its passport stock. It even resorted to limiting the number of passports issued to 2,000 a day to prevent a possible shortage, but ultimately decided to procure passport from the old supplier as a stopgap measure.

Similarly, the cabinet has granted approval for a team led by Energy Secretary Chiranjivi Chataut to participate in the 7th meeting of the Joint Working Group and Joint Steering Committee on Nepal-Bangladesh Energy Sector Cooperation. The meeting is scheduled to be held in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on November 26 and 27.

The cabinet has also decided to appoint Deepak Shrestha as the Member Secretary of the Lumbini Area Development Trust.

Likewise, the cabinet decided to promote one Colonel of the Nepal Army to the rank of Brigadier General and grant a special promotion to one Brigadier General to the rank of Major General.

The cabinet has also approved the organizational structure and staffing layout for the Consumer Court and Juvenile Court.

Similarly, the cabinet has authorized Rina Rana, a member of the Indigenous Nationalities Commission, to participate in a women’s seminar being held in Lhasa, China, from November 24 to 28.