SANGAM

Happy holidays for govt staff planned

SANGAM PRASAIN

KATHMANDU, AUG 08 -
Civil servants are in line to get a 15-day annual holiday package called “paid holiday” or “leave tourism” from the current fiscal year if things go according to plan.

Officials at the Ministry of Finance said that such a provision was being considered and that its implementation would depend on the government’s programmes and policies for the fiscal year 2010/11.

The government is planning to initiate the programme to promote domestic tourism and to replace the surplus holiday system of more than 100 days being given to civil servants under public holiday entitlement, said Krishna Hari Banskota, revenue secretary at the Finance Ministry.

“We expect the package will encourage civil servants to work in exchange of the paid leave,” he said. However, we are not sure of implementing the scheme until the full-fledged budget is announced, he added.

The Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation has proposed the concept to the government which is new to Nepal but is in practice in several countries to boost the morale of their civil servants.

“Mobilizing civil servants to visit potential internal vacation destinations will boost domestic tourism. In the meanwhile, they will get to learn about the national geography and the unseen prospects that the country holds for planners,” said Laxman Prasad Bhattarai, spokesperson at the Tourism Ministry.

Paid leave in other countries is mostly a feature in employment agreements that provide a “resource” of hours that an employee can draw from to take time off from work and tour the country.

The World Tourism Organization defines tourists as people who “travel to and stay in places outside their usual environment for more than 24 hours and not

more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes not related to the exercise of an activity remunerated from within the place visited.”

However, the tourism policy in Nepal does not incorporate domestic visitors as tourists. The initiative will thus give recognition to Nepali travellers undertaking domestic tours as tourists, Bhattarai said. If the paid leave scheme comes into effect, about 400,000 government employees will be entitled to the package.

There are 85,000 civil servants, 55,000 Nepal Police personnel, 30,000 Armed Police Force personnel, 95,000 Nepal Army personnel and about 125,000 teachers who qualify for the programme.

Discussions on the modality are underway. Some planners have proposed a monthly package while others are in support of a fortnightly scheme. “The government’s total budget expenditure for the employees’ salaries is Rs. 5 billion every month. Implementing a fortnightly scheme will require an extra budget of Rs. 2.5 billion per month,” he added.

The Tourism Ministry has proposed a budget of Rs. 3 million to implement the programme in the first phase.

“The amount is relatively low to implement the package. However, since the package is being introduced for the first time, we will gradually increase the amount,” said Bhattarai.

According to him, India has a domestic tourists movement of over 650 million each year.

Recently, under the Tourism Ministry’s trial initiative, 59 civil servants representing different ministries and government bodies visited and observed different locations viable for the programme.