TIKAPUR, June 23: Purandhar Dahal, a non-gazette first class officer, is currently the chief of Satti Small Customs Office in Kailali. Ananda Ghimire was the chief of the office until last month, while a new chief is joining next month.
It has been a tradition of sorts at this small customs office. Not only the chief, other employees are also changed every month. A new batch of staffers will join the office from the beginning of the new fiscal year i.e. mid-July.
According to government rules, an employee can only be transferred after he or she has completed at least two years at an office. However, this rule seems to have been ignored in case of Satti Small Customs Office.
Decision to upgrade Satti small customs into main customs elate...
Dahal, the chief of the small customs office, said that employees do not want to work here as the office does not have accommodation facility. “As employees do not want to work here for long, the Kailali Office of the Department of Customs might have adopted staff rotation system,” he added.
However, knowledgeable sources say that frequent transfer of employees is to offer employees equal opportunity to 'earn'. “The non-gazette first class officers of the district office are transferred to small customs offices one after another. These employees work as per the guidelines of the chief of the customs office and agree to share spoils accordingly,” a source told Republica.
Gopi Krishna Uprety, chief of the district office, refuted the claim. “We have been transferring employees so that they do not have to face stress. If a person has to work in the same place for a longer period of time, s/he may feel stress. We want to avoid such circumstances,” Uprety told Republica, adding that employees in all small customs offices across the country are changed every month as no post has been created for small customs offices.
According to Uprety, preparations are underway to appoint a section officer as the chief of Satti Small Customs Office as well as create 17 posts. “Once this arrangement is made, there won't be frequent transfer of employees,” he added.
He also added that Satti Small Customs Office will be upgraded into a customs office by mid-September.
Satti Small Customs Office is mobilizing revenue in the tune of Rs 20 million annually. It is among the largest revenue mobilizing customs offices under Kailali customs.
