The authorities had been delaying issuing a route permit to Bindhabasini due to strong pressure from the local transport syndicate. Bindhabasini had been forced to keep its high quality buses idle for the last seven months due to the government’s reluctance to provide a route permit.

Bindhabasini had applied for a route permit last year after importing 10 new buses.

Transport committees including the Prithvi Highway Transport Operators’ Committee, Taxi Entrepreneurs Committee and Pokhara City Transport Entrepreneurs Committee, which were running a syndicate in transportation, were against giving any route permit to Bindhabasini.

Officials at the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport said that they decided to allow Bindhabasini to operate its buses on “mid-range” routes.

“The route permit was given to discourage syndicates in transport services,” said a ministry official. He, however, claimed that they could not issue a route permit within the city as it was already crowded with other public vehicles. The Gandaki Zone Transport Management Office determines routes and issues permits.

There are an estimated 400 public vehicles in operation in Pokhara city. After the government delayed making a decision on the route permit, Bindhabasini, which had invested around Rs 30 million, was on the way to suffering huge losses.

The company was also planning to import an additional 48 Euro III buses to provide comfortable public transport service.

After the decision of the ministry, the Department of Transport Management has instructed its Gandaki Zone Transport Management Office to issue the permit, according to the department. Last year, entrepreneurs belonging to Bindhabasini had also scuffled with officials of the Gandaki Zone office after it refused to issue a permit due to objections from other local transport entrepreneurs.

The company had also filed complaints at the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) against the Gandaki Zone Transport Management Office, Pokhara City Transport Entrepreneurs Committee and Taxi Entrepreneurs Committee for supporting syndicates in the transport sector. Syndicates in the transport sector are illegal and the Supreme Court has also banned them.

Meanwhile, the ministry has directed the Department of Transport Management to install meters in taxi cabs operating in Pokhara. So far, the taxis in the city are charging customers on the basis of bargaining, according to Nabin Pokhrel, joint secretary at the ministry. There are an estimated 4,500 to 5,000 cabs in the tourist city.

Lack of provision for meter taxis and standard fares have remained a major headache for carrying out monitoring of the cabs in the city. Mohan Bhattarai, mechanical engineer of the department, said that they would fix the cab fares for Pokhara after carrying out a study on the demand and supply situation.

“Since Pokhara cabs do not get abundant customers like in the Kathmandu valley, we are also considering adding 10-20 percent to the fares charged in the Kathmandu valley to fix the tariff for Pokhara,” he added.