| Username |
Post |
| ashu |
Posted
on 01-Mar-02 07:08 PM
Interview excerpts:
You went to the rescue of Necon last year, and then opted out.
What happened?
I left the army after 22 years to work in Nepal’s civil aviation sector because I believe that tourism is key to our development, and aviation is critical to develop the tourism industry. Necon was having major financial problems, and my friends there wanted me to come over and help.
So why did you leave?
They needed money immediately, which I put in. But for that, the airline would have been in a very bad situation. I stayed there for three or four months and went to the US to negotiate with Beechcraft to add two aircraft the fleet. I went to France and re-negotiated the lease rate with ATR. I was able to get it down from $72,900 per aircraft per month to $60,000. I also negotiated with the insurance companies and took some steps to raise the morale of the employees. But I am a politician now, and could not stay there forever. I left on my own account, but still have my investment there. I have not even taken a receipt.
http://www.nepalnews.com.np/ntimes/issue83/interview.htm
******************
I did NOT realize that a SITTING Member of Parliament
in Nepal can go work in the private sector (Necon Air, in this case),
and continue to have, one assumes
substantial, investment in that private company while
LOOKING INTO ways of making the state-run RNAC fly.
Unless there is something I am mssing, this looks like a straightforward
conflict-of-interest case to me.
Even the editors of Nepali Times seemed not to have cared about this odd
detail when they interviewed (see above) Lt. Col Narayan Singh Pun, the MP
from Myagdi.
Now, don't get me wrong. I adore Lt Col Narayan Singh
Pun. He is a great guy who is 1000 times better than most
politicans, and he knows a lot about aviation, and I wish him
a lot of success.
That is why, as his well-wisher, I wonder -- all the
more in this post-Enron world -- whether the
well-respected MP's forays into running and managing
and even owning private-sector airline businesses
makes him a credibly neutral lawmaker (the job
to which he was elected by voters in Myagdi!) when
it comes to overseeing the airline industry in Nepal.
***********************
http://www.nepalicongress.org.np/parliament/members-of-parl.html
oohi
"fan of Lt.Col Pun"
ashu
ktm,nepal
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| Biswo |
Posted
on 01-Mar-02 09:26 PM
Ashu:
Colonel Pun (pun intended) is one of my favorite MPs. He is definitely a great
guy, rarely embroiled in dirty politics and wallowed in the dirt of corruption. But
since there is this precedence of one former MP Laxman Ghimire resigning from
board of directors of one consultancy firm after protests, it looks enigmatic
why colonel Pun was never notified, or why he didn't take any lesson from,
that incident.
When clean politicians like Mr Pun feel they can do better in business , they are
always welcome to start business of selling Chicken fries or flying Boeing. But
owning one of the major airlines in the country, and making rule for that(well, sort
of) just doesn't make sense. Hope he will correct himself.
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| Roma |
Posted
on 02-Mar-02 07:01 PM
Hi Ashu,
Looks like interview is very accurate, your comments and concern is also very appropriate.
Before moving to USA, I was one who worked closely with Royal Nepal Army( Brid 11) and VVIP flight as a civilian consultant for a while. I was just 23 and very young that time when I worked with them. So, I have nothings to do with what is going on in their internal business, though being a fellow professional and aircraft test enginneer in differnt mode and level, I use to come through differnt odds of nepothism, high corruption, power broker's deals etc etc. I am not certainly blaming this for Lt.Co Pun, because he is only a part of that system who gave silent consent instead of being major conspirator of ad-hoc commettee of three people who runs whole system of Army wing.
Again, even after 5 years later, I admire Col Pun for his high professionalism and skill as a pilot. I don't even doubt that he is own of the rare qualified and courageous pilot in nepal.
During my work and close observation in Nepal, I came to know that person like Col Pun can do anythings in Nepal. When u have a strong backing from the country's power broker ( permant power broker), and when u have little skills and courage then one can be easily super star in cellulid world. Today, he can be actor, business man, legislature, minister, and anything........We use talk about sacrifice, didication, unselfishness, patroitism and etc in politics and development. In contary to this when somebody find the person like Col Pun, our politician (whoever they are- Girija, Madhav kumar) can not deny the ticket for them and even can not stop to make them minister.
Atlast I have to accept the facts in News is preety much right . Though being a great fan of Lt.Co Pun's flying skills and manevours, I hate to say that I did not wonder if he starst to run state airlines( RNAC) and couple of private airlines being a minister of civil and tourism at a same time.
Thank you.
Roma
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| cardinal |
Posted
on 02-Mar-02 07:31 PM
I think that for politicians to be 'corruption -free' they should be allowed to run public enterprise. And if someone as successful as the person we are talking about then we should not hinder on that. That's just my thought.
The government, if it really wants to make sure that nothing fishy goes on when the person is on power, should be able to make its decisions more transparent and develop strategies to make sure that irregularities do not take place, and not on stopping these ingenious people from working in private sector altogether. Baccha lai rog lagla bhanera khop dinu thik kura ho, rog lagihale ma turunta upachar garnu manasib ho, tara paachi rog lagla bhanera baccha nai na janmaunu buddhimani hoina!
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