The government has decided to conduct round-the-clock aerial patrolling from Saturday throughout the country to boost security arrangements for the constituent assembly election slated for April 10.
“The aerial patrols will be conducted 24 hours a day till the polling day from six bases in different parts of the country, and it could be extended depending on the situation,” Home Ministry spokesman Modraj Dotel told this daily.
Special aerial patrol bases have been established in Kathmandu, Biratnagar, Simara, Pokhara, Nepalgunj and Dhangadi. Government sources added that the government was hiring helicopters belonging to private companies for patrolling.
This comes a day after the cabinet concluded that the security apparatuses should be mobilised in a more effective manner to ensure a free and fair election. Dotel said Home Secretary Umesh Kanta Mainali, Inspector General of Police Om Bikram Rana, IGP of the Armed Police Force Basudev Oli and chief of the National Investigation Department Dhan Singh Karki visited districts in the hills and Tarai belts of the central region today to take stock of the security situation.
Meanwhile, the Nepal Army said it has kept its choppers on standby in the run-up to the polls. “The army choppers are in a standby position as asked by the government,” army spokesman Brig Gen Ramindra Chhetri said. He added that the government had not asked the army to provide its choppers for the aerial patrols till date.

(Source: The Himalayan Times)