Weapons are procured from regular budget: Police HQ

Kathmandu, July 14: The arms and ammunition procurement process of the Federal Nepal Police is in debate. 

The Department of Human Resources and Administration of the Police (Invoice No. 315) had demanded budget for the purchase of arms and ammunition on March 2, 2022. 

The process to buy arms and ammunition was forwarded during the tenure of IGP Shailesh Thapa Kshetri and AIG Bishwa Raj Pokhrel as head of Department of Human Resources. 

According to a letter from the Police Headquarters, the Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation Branch of the Ministry of Home Affairs had sent a letter to the Budget and Programme Division of the Ministry of Finance on March 23, 2022 through a secretary-level decision.

In the letter, the police had asked for Rs. 939.97 million from the Home Ministry and the same letter was latter forwarded to the Ministry of Finance. Later on, the Finance Ministry had released a budget of Rs. 840 million to Nepal Police for the same purpose. 

According to the proposal letter of Nepal Police, the arms and ammunition were sought for the election security management when the country was preparing for local level polls slated for May 13 this year, security of assemblies and ceremonies, riot control, security management of VIPs / VVIPs, possible post-election riot control and training of trainee police.

Deputy Inspector General (DIG) and Spokesperson for the Nepal Police Headquarters Tek Prasad Rai said that the decision to buy weapons has moved ahead after it received the Cabinet nod on April 5, 2022.

Nepal Police had offered to buy 1,200 sets of 9mm pistols or handguns. However, the government did not provide the required budget, and now, the Headquarters, is purchasing only 1,000 sets. The price rate of one pistol is Rs. 100,000 according to the proposal list. 

It was proposed to purchase 1.117 million bullets that fit in the pistol. It is mentioned in the proposal that the bullet will cost Rs. 170 per piece. They had demanded Rs. 189.75 million for bullets alone. Similarly, proposal rate to buy one shotgun, a long-barreled firearm, was fixed at Rs. 270,000. And the Nepal Police has proposed to buy 1,200 shotguns. A budget of Rs. 324.4 million was proposed for this.

The number to buy shotguns reduced after the Finance Ministry did not provide demanded money and decided to limit its number to 1,100 from 1,200, the Headquarters said.

Likewise, the government had given approval to purchase 300,000 sets of rubber bullets and it costs Rs. 400 per piece. Similarly, 200,000 pieces of cartridges for the shotguns will be brought at a cost of Rs. 280 per piece. Nepal Police had proposed to buy rubber bullets at Rs. 120 million and Rs 50.6 million for cartridges.

Similarly, the government had approved the budget to buy 24,000 tear gas cells although the police had sent a proposal to procure 25,000 cells. One tear gas cell cost is proposed at Rs. 5,200. 

We need weapons: Police

While the people and the leaders of the opposition parties are raising questions about the purchase of arms, the Nepal Police has stated that there has been an acute shortage of arms for the last seven years.

Police Spokesperson DIG Rai claimed that the budget was demanded according to the then market price and the procurement proposal was called accordingly. Nepal Police had not purchased any weapon for the past seven years.  “Process to buy weapons have been made under a regular process and by managing the government’s budget as decided through the current fiscal budget, which is about to end this week,” DIG Rai said. 

Cartridges and rubber bullets used in riot control have been expired. If used, expired bullets may cause harm to rioters. “It cannot be used for human rights reasons,” said Rai. We all sought it as per need,” Rai said. 

“We don’t have much arms and ammunition. That is all we can say in terms of security. Federal elections are nearing. There is going to be a problem if we fail to buy them in time,” said DIG Rai. Nepal Police has claimed that the process to buy weapons began before the economic crisis began to hit the country and was sought from the regular budget.

“The decision to buy these weapons was not decided through this new fiscal budget, but it was on the pipeline since the then CPN-led government dissolved the House and announced the date for the election,” DIG Rai said. 

Why controversy flared? 

The parliamentary committee had first raised questions regarding the procurement of weapons by the Nepal Police. The Finance Committee of the Parliament has demanded a reply from the Ministry of Home Affairs after its processes could not become transparent, and when the information came to light that the Nepal Police was buying useless weapon (shotgun) which the world had already stopped in its regular use. 

The committee has requested the officials from the ministries to come up with all the documents related to the procurement process on Thursday (July 14).