The parliamentary sub-committee formed to investigate the construction of Pokhara Regional International Airport has come to Pokhara and started the investigation. A team of 11 MPs and 2 employees, led by the coordinator of the sub-committee and RPP chairman Rajendraprasas Lingden, came to Pokhara on Sunday and started the investigation.

A parliamentary committee was formed for investigation after a complaint was received in the parliamentary committee about irregularities in the construction of the airport. The Public Accounts Committee of the House of Representatives formed two separate sub-committees on June 13 to investigate the overall aspect and submit a report with opinions on the suspicion of financial irregularities during the construction of Pokhara and Bhairahawa Airports. Both the sub-committees were given time to submit the report within a maximum of one month. 

The subcommittee formed under the coordination of Lingden has Congress leader Arjunnar Singh KC, UML leader Gokulprasad Baskota, Maoist leader Janardan Sharma, Tara Lama Tamang, Tejulal Chaudhary, Deepak Giri, Devprasad Timalsina, Prem Bahadur Ale, Ramakrishna Yadav, Rukmani Rana Barailly and Lekhnath Dahal as members. The sub-committee was mandated to study/investigate the overall situation from how the demand proposal was started to the master plan, cost/contract, construction till now and submit a report with opinion.

sub-committee organized Pokhara International Airport on Tuesday and  Had a meeting with the staff of Civil Aviation Office, Pokhara. The historical background of the airport, total investment in construction (foreign loan, subsidy, indigenous), the need and justification of construction, errors in construction, the capacity and expansion of the airport, the assurance of return according to the purpose, the challenges of regular operation of the airport, the future action plan including the assurance of the purposeful use of the airport construction. was. 

Pokhara International Airport project started from FY 2074/75 and will be completed in FY 2077/78, while the initial cost is set at 22 billion, the project completion schedule has been set in FY 2079/80, delayed by 2 years. In which 25 billion 34 crore rupees were shown. After the completion of the project, 500 hectares of land from Manipal, Seti River and Kahunkhola, 4 km to the north outside the airport area, water flows during the rainy season, internal roads and Prithvi Highway drains and irrigation canals enter the airport area, the report of the Auditor General's Office mentions that there is a problem in the operation of the airport. is It is said that the runway was 6 meters deep when the ground was dug up and the soil had to be filled in while the airport was being built. Technicians have been saying that even when the runway is deep, international flights will be affected. As the runway is deep, the height of the water tank built one and a half kilometers to the west has also come to be reduced. 

coordinator Lingden said that he worked with the Civil Aviation Authority (CAN), the then head of the airport project, to take questions and clarifications with the staff. He said that the parliamentary sub-committee has been formed to find out the irregularities in the international airport, to recommend action if there is any irregularity, and to find out the reasons for the non-flight at the Pokhara International Airport and give suggestions. He said, 'The sub-committee works to give instructions to the government to solve the problems.' The sub-committee inquired with the director general of the authority Pradeep Adhikari, the then airport project manager Vinesh Munkarmi about whether the airport operation will be interrupted until the height of the existing water tank is reduced by 20 meters.

The sub-committee was curious about the utility of the old airport, the efforts made so far in relation to international airport operations, aspects of financial management, efforts in relation to strategic partners, the condition of financial interest, and how many years the airport operation is estimated to reach the break-even point. 

Even after the completion of the construction of the international airport, the sub-committee understood that there were problems such as the structural aspect of the VIP room is very narrow and there is only one toilet, the runway is narrow and short. 

Pokhara Airport is an airport built with the Chinese government's 22 billion loan investment. Currently, no international flights have been made from the airport, which was built as a project of national pride. In the discussion with the sub-committee held on Tuesday, the stakeholders of Pokhara said that the Civil Aviation Authority (CAN) is reluctant to start international flights from Pokhara. Anandraj Mulmi, the former president of the Federation of Industries and Commerce, said that CAN has been biased against Pokhara. He accused CAN of not doing so as it should take the initiative to bring it from other countries until regular flights from India can take place. 

The former president of Pokhara Chamber of Commerce and Industry Vishwashankar Palikhe said that the authority should be investigated. "Cans were an obstacle to flying to Pokhara before, even now cans have become a problem," he said He said that the flight should be regular. He mentioned that the authority should take initiative to start flights from China until it starts from India. 

Dhanraj Acharya, head of Pokhara Metropolitan Municipality, suggested that the sub-committee submit a report so that it can be decisive and implemented. He said that the sub-committee should take necessary steps to operate regular international flights in Pokhara, which has been declared the capital of tourism. Chief Minister of Gandaki Province Surendraraj Pandey said that not only Pokhreli but the entire Gandaki Province residents were forced to answer when they asked when they would have an international flight. "People complain to me, where do I go to complain?," he said, "Because it is a federal plan, there is no authority for the province to give an opinion about the airport." The General Accounting Office has directed the government to bring the airport into operation in coordination with various countries and airlines.

The foundation stone of the airport was laid by the then Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli in Baisakh 2073 and was inaugurated by Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal on 17th December 2017. 25 billion 34 million rupees have been spent in Pokhara to build the airport. However, there are zero international flights from this airport, which was built at the expense of such a large sum of money. There is no commercial flight at Pokhara International Airport spread over 3 thousand 899 ropani land. Apart from 14 two-way charter flights, there was no international flight in Pokhara in one and a half years. Although it is said that Bangladesh Airlines is willing to fly directly to Pokhara, there is still no meaningful dialogue.