The premises of the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal in Sinamangal were decorated with a formal anniversary program on Wednesday. The occasion was the 27th anniversary of the authority. The speeches were gradually progressing on the stage. Lists of achievements in the aviation sector of Nepal were being recited.

But the program took a different turn when Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Anil Kumar Sinha, putting aside his written remarks, started sharing his own experiences.

‘Today I have to say something more,’ with this sentence from Minister Sinha, the formal speech turned to stories of uncomfortable experiences of passengers.

Recalling the days before he became a minister, he recounted the experience he had when he used various airports in the country, including Tribhuvan International Airport, without showing off his position and status. That feeling was not of pride, but of pain.

In his words, the improvement seen at the airport is not deep – it is only superficial. ‘It seems like there has been improvement, but it is only cosmetic,’ he said. Minister Sinha could not call the journey from the moment he entered the airport to the moment he boarded the plane and left, comfortable. ‘From the moment I entered the airport until I got out in my car, taxi or bus, I have experienced discomfort,’ he said in clear words.

This discomfort was not just his personal experience. According to him, from ordinary Nepali citizens to foreign tourists, they do not get a pleasant experience at the airport. His conclusion was that there are problems at all three levels: service, management and behavior.

He expressed a kind of sadness among the aviation sector stakeholders present on the stage, including the tourism secretary, pilots, airline operators and employees, and said, ‘It is a service that citizens and tourists should pay for at the airport, but it is sad that they have to return from the same place with a negative feeling.’

Before him in the program, Acting Director General Devchandra Lal Karna had listed the achievements of the Authority in one year. But in the minister’s view, it is much longer than the list – there is still a list of work to be done. ‘You are failing to address a list that is bigger than the achievements,’ he commented.

Stating that he will be a minister in the electoral government for only about two months, he instructed to make this short time an opportunity for change. Giving a clear message to the employees that there will be no excuses for this, he said, ‘There will be no more excuses for this minister, this secretary or political pressure.’

He also said that without the cooperation of the employees, reforms would be impossible, keeping flight safety at the center. Saying, ‘Two months is a very long time,’ he urged them to work responsibly for the country.

Minister Sinha’s speech was not limited to criticism. He directed that the report of the High-Level Civil Aviation Study Commission, which he had coordinated in the past, be used as a roadmap. He said that the report is a document that will change so that passengers can feel safe while boarding the plane.

In the program, he also shared his personal experience of being held in the sky for 25 minutes recently. Referring to the incident of having to be held in the sky for 20-25 minutes while returning from Pokhara to Kathmandu, he directly connected with the air traffic controllers and told them how important it is to adhere to the schedule.