Sankhuwasabha rural municipality Chair Sherpa forges govt documents to land in the US

KATHMANDU: Chichila Rural Municipality Chairman Pasang Nurbu Sherpa of Sankhuwasabha was found forging government documents to land in the United States.

According to a preliminary investigation, the rural municipality had decided to send a team of nine persons including the chairman to the US visit spending Rs 7.7 million.

It was strange and really unbelievable to hear how the rural municipality could allocate such a huge amount for the foreign trip.

The most interesting thing is that all persons included in the team except the chairman do not belong to the Chichila Rural Municipality.

The Onlinkhabar.Com had made public two minutes of the decision of the rural municipality two days ago.

As per the first document, the 101st meeting of the rural municipality held on December 10 made 11 decisions. The meeting also took the decision about the US visit.

According to the decision, the rural municipality said that it would bear all the expenses of the chairman, office bearers of National Women Commission and Dalit Commission among others during their visit to the United States. It has been stated that they are going to the United States to take part in the 6th Annual Smart Cities Technology Symposium and Exhibition to be held in Chicago.

The second document also stated that the nine persons including the chairman of the Chichila Rural Municipality and office bearers of National Women Commission and Dalit Commission are going the United States to participate in the exhibition.

The details like daily travel allowance, plane tickets and accommodation were also mentioned in the document. As per which, the team members will be provided with daily travel allowance from USD 90 to 225.

Dalit Commission Chairman Dev Raj Bishwokarma, National Women Commission member Krishna Kumari Paudel and Rural Municipality Chairman Sherpa will be provided with USD 225 each for 10 days.

Similarly, Under Secretary Anju Dhungana, Thilen Sherpa and Naresh Rijal will be provided with USD 125 for 10 days.

Likewise, non-gazetted officers Megendra Neupane, Sujin Bhatta and Dipesh Rijal will be provided with USD 90 for 10 days.

The rural municipality had approved the budget of Rs 7.7 million including all the expenses like daily travel allowances, tickets and accommodation for the visit.

Coincidentally, the meeting had decided to collect the funds for the hailstorm victims of ward 1 and 2 of the rural municipality.

A seven-member team under the headship of Vice-Chairperson Yadu Kumari Rai was formed to raise the funds.

Meanwhile, Rai said that the rural municipality gave the approval for the visit with the condition that all the members should bear the cost of the visit on their own.

“We have no budget and the meeting has not taken the decision to bear the expenses of the visit,” Rai said.

According to a source, Chairman Sherpa made fake documents by altering the decision of the rural municipality.

Sherpa made the fake papers stating that the rural municipality will bear all the expenses of the visit, in which all the office bearers have been found supporting him.

It is impossible for the rural municipality with an annual budget of Rs 140 million to manage the fund of Rs 7.7 million just for the foreign visit, the source added.

It has been learnt that Sherpa has been trying to go to the United States for a long time. But the embassy had rejected him time and again in the past.

That is why, he used the whole rural municipality to fulfill his vested interest this time.

The main objective of the chairman to forge the documents was to get the visa easily.