--BY MADAN LAMSAL

It is said that the file concerning the appointment of CIAA chief Lokman Singh Karki has gone missing. If that is so, then his appointment, too, should have been lost along with the lost file. Perhaps that will not happen. However, it’s not just Lokman’s appointment file which has vanished. From time to time, many important files keep on disappearing from our government ministries, departments and even courts.    

For example, a file sought by the Supreme Court from the Kathmandu District Court in the polymer note printing irregularities case took a long time to reach the apex court. The reason given was that the file had gone awol (read misplaced) inside the district court itself! The Supreme Court did give a verdict on this case but the file recording the verdict has yet to make its way to the Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB). Due to this, the central bank hasn’t been able to send another file to the  Australian government.   

Incidents of losing important files have been on the rise ever since republicanism dawned in Nepal. Files of road contracts disappear. Files of Guthi land and public land keep disappearing too. Files of oil and gas deals, too, keep vanishing. No one knows where the files of excavation of rocks and construction aggregates have gone. Even Dr Ram Baran Yadav, when he was the President of the country, could not find these files! The file of the infamous royal palace massacre, too, must be missing. That’s why the massacre is still a mystery. Or maybe no such file exists!    

Who knows where the files of the Lauda Air Scam, Dhmaija Scam and Dollar Scam have vanished. Similarly, the files of the war era are missing for sure. Files concerning market monitoring by the government are opened and closed time and again before they vanish somewhere on government shelves. In this way, several other files vanish from the country. Or let’s put it like this: those files which are liked by the people who have access to them remain safe and the rest disappear!

If you come to think of it, you will realise that there is no point in keeping all kinds of files safe. The reason is we have so many kinds of files which are beyond management. There are not only files made from Nepali handmade papers, files imported from abroad, index files and box files but also digital files like pen drives and google drives. Similarly, there are files as diverse as files for corruption, files for market monitoring, files for banking crimes and files for social crimes. As they say, the devil lies in the detail!  

As we can see ourselves, dangerous criminals are walking free today. Probably, their files, too, were lost somewhere. How many people can the government put in jail when there are more bad people than good people? Instead, the government should allow all criminals to walk free! In other words, it should close their files or do something so that these files go missing!

Instead of losing a file or two, let’s lose all the files that exist in the country. Let’s forget all the old files. We will get nowhere by clinging to the past. This should be why even Gangamaya broke her fast-unto-death after a decade. 

We should now begin de-learning. In other words, we should start doing everything in a new way. Only then can we create a New Nepal!

The Council of Ministers and the Ministry of General Administration have told the court that the appointment letter of CIAA Chief Karki was lost in the earthquake. This means, the earthquake triggered a new revolution in the country! We should continue that. 

What we can do now is start saving the new files in google drives and the cloud instead of the shelves of government ministries and departments. No earthquake will ever strike there! Otherwise, the country will continue to be haunted by the mystery of missing files!