Corporation extending the term of the UAE agent against the rules

According to sources in the commercial department of the corporation, the Arabian agent company Ajman National Travel Agency (Anta) has been in charge of ticket and cargo business in the UAE. The company's contract has expired in January 2017. However, the management of the corporation had been extending the deadline for the company for three years. A proposal has been submitted to the board of directors of the corporation on this Chait 2 to extend the term of the same company for another three years and it has been forwarded for the final legal opinion. Sources said that after the board of directors suddenly proposed a three-year extension, high-level employees in the corporation expressed their objection.

In the confidential letter of the board of directors received by Kantipur, it is mentioned that executive chairman Yuvraj Adhikari has proposed to extend the term of Anta. "The Executive Chairman submitted a proposal regarding the renewal of the General Sales Agent (Cargo and Passenger) of the United Arab Emirates in the 38th meeting of the Board of Directors," said a corporation official related to the meeting. When Kantipur tried to get a response in this regard, the president did not get in touch.

After the corporation decided to start flights with narrowbody and widebody aircraft of Airbus in the UAE, the company was entrusted with the business through a tender in 072. At that time the executive head of the corporation was Sugaratna Kansakar. He gave Anta a contract for 5 years. After Kansakar, Yuvraj Adhikari came to the executive head of the corporation through Madan Kharel, Dimprakash Paudel. According to the rules, the tender should have been done for the second time in the intervening 9 years. But Anta continued. According to sources, the company has been taking at least Rs 5 crore annually from the corporation for ticket sales and cargo commission.

There is a provision in the corporation's agent (GSA) regulations that the board of directors can extend the period for another 3 years if the 5-year performance evaluation of any agent is satisfactory. However, this company has extended the deadline more than 20 times by showing various excuses. "Sometimes on the pretext of covid and sometimes on the pretext that the new contract process has not started, it is seen in the records of the corporation that the deadline has been extended twenty times by one month, two months," said the corporation source.

After the first 5 years, the then general manager Dimprakash Paudel issued a tender. Al Nobadha Travel was selected from the tender two years ago. However, the process was stopped when Anta did not give a 'no objection' letter to Al Nobadha as per the law there. The corporation has been doing passenger and cargo related business through its own offices in Hong Kong, Thailand, Malaysia, Japan. However, in UAE, Saudi Arabia, Doha, Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore, the corporation conducts passenger and cargo business through agent companies. Those agents get commission based on the transaction.