Nepal withdraws passport printing order from India

Apparently under pressure from Maoists and other parties, the Nepal government has decided to scrap a controversial order that allowed printing of Machine Readable Passport from an Indian government security press.

After a cabinet meeting, Communication Minister and government spokesman Shanker Pokharel told reporters yesterday that the government has decided to withdraw the decision to print the passport in an Indian security press.

The Nepal government had recently decided to award the contract of supplying MRP to Indian security press at a rate of USD 4 per copy through bilateral negotiations in order to get the ultra-modern passport printed as soon as possible after the International Civil Aviation Organisation asked it to halt issuance of hand written passports.