Woman involved in forgery held, corruption increases in camps (Resettlement)
Beldangi, October 13: Armed Police Force (APF) in Beldangi-II camp arrested an exiled Bhutanese woman involved in counterfeiting during the third country resettlement process.
The arrestee is Amrita Darjee also called by hte name ‘Susma’, 30, of Beldangi-II, Sector D/1, hut number 16. Inspector at the APF base camp in Beldangi, Mahesh Bista informed Bhutan News Service (BNS) that Darjee admitted she tried replacing her missing brother Raj Darjee with a Nepalese national Mukti Dahal for resettlement.
The detail information of Dahal including his proper residential address is not yet disclosed.
Bista further quoted Darjee, who was later handed over to the Damak-based sub-police post for further investigation, as admitting that she had so far received NRs 100,000 from Dahal, whose photo has already been snapped during night in Damak for carrying on resettlement process.
Bista also said that Darjee had a contract of NRs 225,000 with Dahal for allowing him to replace his brother who has been missing from camp since years.
Camp secretary of Beldangi-II Narad Muni Sanyashi also confirmed Darjee’s involvement in forgery.
Darjee made it public that there were other two exiled Bhutanese youths from the same camp involved in the process.
Responding to BNS query, Chief of the Mission of International Organization for Migration (IOM) David Derthick said the incident was attention-drawing.
“There will of course be attempts to fraud during the resettlement process but the IOM is confident that the opportunities for fraud are extremely low”, said Derthick, adding- “Due to the excellent registration, the database created by the government of Nepal and the UNHCR is well before resettlement became a reality.”
No any UNHCR staffs at the Damak-based office were immediately available for comments.
A social activist in Beldangi-II camp preferring anonymity informed BNS that the Refugee Coordination Unit (RCU) in Beldangi-I, II and extension camps were actively involved in corruption in the re-registration process.
Meanwhile, another exiled Bhutanese from Beldangi-II camp, who scared revealing his identity, claimed the officials at the RCU in Beldangi-II charged him NRs 5,000 to re-register him at the camp.
However, Chief of the RCU at the Beldangi-II camp Khem Raj Khanal strongly refuted the allegation. “We have not taken anything in cash from the exiled Bhutanese while registering them and these allegations are baseless”, said Khanal, adding that the RCU would approve the case for registration once it is forwarded by the Camp Management Committee (CMC).
When asked about the possibilities of delaying the cases forwarded by the CMC, Khanal said “If every thing is ok we sign on the document within five minutes once it is received." Bhutan News Service/ Thakur P. Mishra