Govt employees, trade union leaders with access to ‘higher-ups’ become liaison officers

KATHMANDU, May 20: The liaison officers (LOs) who are deployed for managing mountain expeditions are hired on the basis of their access to ‘higher-ups’. The private secretaries of the Minister of Tourism, various party-affiliated employees' unions, officials of organizations, and the employees of the Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) go to the mountain climbing time and again as liaison officers. But the employees who do not have links with powerful people do not get the opportunity even after completing five-six years of training to become a liaison officer.

Dijan Bhattarai, the private secretary of Minister for Tourism, Culture and Civil Aviation Sudan Kirati, Hari Rawal, president of the Maoist-affiliated staff organization, National Staff Organization, officials of various party-affiliated staff associations and organizations have gone on the climb as liaison officers. Mohan Ghimire, the former president of the staff organization close to the CPN (Unified Socialist), has also gone on the expedition.

Bhattarai, the minister's private secretary, said that he went to climb the mountains not as a minister’s secretary but as an employee of the tourism ministry. The Department of Tourism has made a procedure to select the liaison officer. Yuvaraj Khatiwada, director of the tourism department, said that the liaison officer is selected according to the procedure. But one non-gazetted first class officer working in the Ministry of Urban Development said, "I have completed five years of training to become a liaison officer.” He added, “I haven't had the opportunity even once. But the government employee trade union leaders are promoted as liaison officers every year.” According to the procedure, there is a provision for personnel from non-gazetted first class officers to Deputy Secretary to be promoted as liaison officers.

There is a provision to get more than 3000 US dollars from the climbing team when going as an authorized liaison officer. Apart from this, there is also provision of daily allowance of Rs 500. This is also the reason why there is difficulty in hiring liaison officers. There is a legal provision that a government employee should go as a liaison officer in groups going to climb mountains above 6,500 meters.

If the liaison officer falls ill or gets altitude sickness while climbing the mountain, there is a provision that he can return from midway. By abusing this provision, some officers who go mountain climbing stay only for one or two days during the mountain climbing, and return midway saying 'I am sick'. However, their prescribed facilities are not cut.

According to the director of the department, Khatiwada, if the liaison officer returns from the midway, the work of the liaison officer is done by the staff working in the liaison office established at the base camp. Khatiwada said that the liaison office will be staffed under the leadership of a deputy secretary.

An employee at the Ministry of Tourism says, “On the one hand, there is an opportunity to go on an exciting trip to climb the Himalayas for one or two days, on the other hand, there is a competition every year for the civil servants to become a liaison officer. Government employee trade union leaders take advantage of this.”

Since 2067 BS, arrangements have been made to send liaison officers on the recommendation of national level staff organizations. Trade union officials also take advantage of this. The Department of Tourism seeks recommendations from all Ministries every year to send names of liaison officers. But even when selecting, it will be limited to those who have links with powerful people.

The tourism department has all rights to select the liaison officer. The senior staff of the department recommends the name of the staff closest to them as much as possible. There is a provision for liaison officers to undergo eight days of training for mountain climbing and to have their health certified by a doctor. There is no age limit.

Liaison officer has the authority to verify whether the climbing group has climbed the mountain or not and submit the reports of every activity of the group. Only after the liaison officer certifies that the mountain has been ascended, the group is legally confirmed to have reached their assigned venues.

Mountain climbing is done twice a year. Spring Season climb starts in mid-April to mid-June and Autumn Season climb starts in September to November. Now the spring climbing season has started. During this season, the Department of Tourism has allowed 1,079 climbers to climb 27 different mountains. In spring, mountains like Mt Everest, Mt Lhotse, Mt Kanchenjunga, Mt Annapurna are climbed and in autumn, mountains like Mt Manaslu are climbed. One group spends 20 to 75 days climbing the mountain. But the liaison officer does not stay that long.