How NRB muffed it up

SANGAM PRASAIN
KATHMANDU, OCT 04 -
The Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) error in the statistics of the highest foreign exchange earner in trekking agencies in Nepal in 2009-10 has dislodged the chances of a genuine institution from getting the award conferred by the tourism ministry. The Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation (MoTCA) conferred the ‘Highest foreign exchange earner’ award on Himalaya Expedition Inc., (Pvt) Ltd, in the World Tourism Day (Sept. 27) function held at Nepal Tourism Board. In fact, it is Thamserku Trekking Pvt. Ltd that was the highest foreign exchange earner in 2009-10.

The awarded Himalaya Expedition’s earnings last year stood at US$ 822,025, while the earning of Thamserku Trekking was US$ 1.89 million, according to the amended NRB foreign exchange statistics. However, the MoTCA said that the error occurred due to incorrect statistics sent by the NRB. The NRB corrected the statistical error on Sept. 2. “We distributed the award on the basis of the central bank’s foreign exchange statistics report,” said Laxman Prasad Bhattarai, spokesman at MoTCA.

The amended NRB statistics say that Thamserku Trekking is the highest foreign exchange earner followed by Himalaya Expedition and Explore Himalaya Travel & Adventure. The Trekking Agencies’ Association of Nepal (TAAN) has sent a letter to MoTCA on Monday, drawing its attention to the error by government authorities. TAAN has also requested Tourism Minister Sharat Singh Bhandari to organize another special programme to honor Thamserku Trekking.

Rajendra Bajgai, general-secretary of TAAN, said that such irresponsibility on the part of the concerned government authorities has created an environment of distrust among the agencies. “The decision should be corrected and the concerned authorities should apologize for their mistake,” he said.

The MoTCA awards the best hotel, trekking and travel agency every year on World Tourism Day for their best performance in foreign currency earnings.

The MoTCA has also forwarded a warning letter to NRB not to repeat its mistake. Bhattarai said that they received the letter forwarded by TAAN on the issue on Monday. “We will discuss the issue with the minister and secretary,” he said.