Kathmandu, Sept. 15 -- The Department of Passports has recommended the Ministry of Foreign Affair to scrap the e-passports bid after none of the four bidders submitted the required documents.

The department has now proposed calling another bid with a short deadline to the prospective bidders in order to avoid passport shortage.

The department has around 360,000 passports in stock but with the decision to scrap the tender on Monday, it must rush the bidding process, otherwise the country will face severe shortage of passports, officials said.

Ramkaji Khadka, director general of the department, said that as per the report prepared by an evaluation committee, the decision to scrap the bid and recall a new one has been forwarded to the min...