The minister was furious with TIA and NAC officials and asked them to furnish explanation on how the media came to know of his action, said a source.[break]
He even ordered the Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation (MoTCA) officials to make arrangements of payment for the jounery, during which he commandeered a NAC Twin Otter scheduled to fly to Solukhubu and took it to Doti, leaving passengers stranded at the airport.
Bogged down by the minister´s high-handedness, NAC also issued a press statement saying it had received payment of fares for 15 passengers who flew along with Bista. The statement even claimed that the flight was scheduled for Doti after the pre-planned flight to Kangel Danda, Solukhumbu was cancelled due to the absence of airport authority in the tower.
Contrary to such claim of the NAC, MoTCA officials said they are yet to initiate the process of payment of the fares. “The minister has asked us to clear the bills. But because we have no budget of our own to finance such visits, we will need to ask either Civil Aviation Authority Nepal (CAAN) or NAC to manage the budget. Hopefully, the payment will be settled soon,” said the official.
Such instruction by the minister, however, has compelled the ministry to pay fares of not just the minister but also 15 other senior Maoist leaders, including its Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal. "After the embarrasing act of Monday, he has asked us to flout the basic financial discipline. Sadly, we can do nothing," said the source.
Magar said he visited Doti to inaugurate resumption of flights there. But 15 Maoist leaders that he took on board had gone there to conduct a ´cadre orientation´ program organized secretly by the Maoist establishment faction.
Interestingly, NAC had not announced resumption of the service to Dipayal airport in Doti - which was closed for 15 years - prior to the minister´s visit. However, following the saga, NAC said it will conduct a regular weekly flights to Doti from next week.
Moreover, though the NAC had scheduled the flight that minister comandeered to return to Kathmandu on Monday evening, it was forced to divert to Bhairahawa due to bad weather. The aicraft flew to Kathmandu on Tuesday morning only.
Immediately after landing to Kathmandu, Magar left for Khiji Phalate in Okhaldhunga on a chopper of Simrik Air to lay a foundation stone for the proposed Okhaldhunga Airport.
“We were unaware about the Minister´s visit to Okhaldhunga as well and hence, had fixed a quarterly meeting of the ministry at 2 pm,” the Ministry official said. The meeting started two hours behind schedule as Magar returned to the ministry at 4 pm only.
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