Golden handshake for King Gyanendra’s men

After almost eight months of King Gyanendra’s ignoble exit from the majestic Narayanhity Palace, the Nepal government is now keen to offer voluntary retirement proposal to the ex-royal workforce.

Respecting the directive of the Constituent Assembly, Gyanendra Shah, the last king of Nepal’s Shah Dynasty vacated his palace on June 11 last year, and shifted to a small regal accommodation at Nagarjuna, 15 kms northwest of Kathmandu.

Unfortunately, after the monarch’s departure from the Narayanhity Palace, the fate of about 500 ex-royal employees were uncertain, as the government could not take the decision to discharge them.

After the exit of the royal family from the Narayanhity palace, the ex-royal employees also did not have any work. The government has decided to transform the majestic palace into a national museum.

Now, the government has decided to offer voluntary retirement proposal to a large section of the ex-employees of the Narayanhity palace, Chandra Ghimire, joint secretary at the Ministry of General Administration told myrepublica.com, a Kathmandu-based news portal.

So far, 493 ex-employees were placed in the category of special service under the Ministry of General Administration. The government could not accommodate the employees in any other services as the employees unions were against it.

The government employees unions claimed that the ex-palace employees should not be treated at par other government servants as they were recruited under royal orders and did not pass any competitive examination to join the service.

Ghimire said the voluntary retirement proposal will be extended to those employees who are more than 50 years of age or have completed 20 years of service.

Moreover, the government would offer pension for seven years to the ex-royal employees who would accept the voluntary retirement scheme, Ghimire said. The government on Sunday made a Gazette notification about the voluntary retirement scheme for the ex-royal employees.

However, it is not certain as to what the government would decide if the ex-royal employees refuse to accept the voluntary retirement proposal.