With 101,500 people leaving Kathmandu through different land points on Wednesday, a total of 436,906 people have left the valley since Sunday after the 7.9-magnitude earthquake on Saturday, traffic police confirmed. Traffic records show that 30,290 vehicles were used to ferry the people.

Most of the internal migrants in Kathmandu are fleeing for fear of aftershocks, scarcity of essentials and looming epidemic while others want to be with their family after the disaster. Kathmandu wears a deserted look reminiscent of the time around Dashain festival, only for this being a time of national mourning and not celebration. Considering the public sentiment, the Ministry of Education (MoE) coordinated with umbrella organisations of private schools and colleges on Wednesday to send people to their respective home districts free of charge. Private and Boarding School’s Organisation (Pabson), National Pabson (N-Pabson) and Higher Secondary School’s Association Nepal (Hissan) had arranged for school buses on their own expenses.

Hissan Chairman Umesh Shrestha, who is also a senior advisor for Pabson, confirmed that 115 of their buses left Kathmandu with about 3,500 passengers and a further 150 carried them to Pokhara from Muglin and to Butwal and Itahari from Narayanghat.

More than 10,000 people had queued at New Baneshwor-Tinkune road section after various media reported that more than 500 buses were prepared for Wednesday. This misleading information created havoc which subdued only after 5,000 more tickets were issued for Thursday to those who had lined up as early as 3 am.

“Despite our attempts to prioritise the injured, women and children, seats were allocated on a first-come-first-serve basis,” joint-secretary at MoE Mukunda Prasad Niraula said. “Only those with the tickets will be ferried tomorrow and the buses should arrive by 6 am.”

Shrestha said that 150 buses are being prepared for Thursday, the last from their side. “We expect the situation to normalise after that and people should be able to travel on their own,” he said. “Our operation, then, will be to visit the worst-hit districts and work on relief and rehabilitation.”

The Post talked to several travelers over the phone who said there was overwhelming pressure on the roads creating traffic-jams in various places, adding that some of them were also cheated with exorbitant fares. Valley traffic police intervened in some cases and charged the guilty.

Spokesperson at Metropolitan Traffic Police Division SP Posh Raj Pokharel said that 58 drivers were punished today while 22 people are in police custody for trying to extort high amount from passengers. Yesterday, 47 drivers were punished and 22 arrested, and about Rs 100,000 returned to passengers who were cheated. Pokharel also expects the pressure to normalise from Thursday as most of the people have already left and certain calmness is seen.

The free rides organised by the government also drew criticism from some quarters. Also, people fleeing the valley in panic and remaining closed in their absence was a cause of concern. But government officials assured that they have begun strict market monitoring to ensure smooth supplies.

“Seven monitoring teams were mobilised today in the valley and we found that most of the foodstuff shops have reopened,” spokesperson at the Ministry of Commerce and Supplies Sambhu Prasad Ghimire said. “We ensure that there will be no shortage but problems may arise in distribution due to logistical reasons.” “We have to consider that some of the retailers and wholesalers have suffered damage due to the earthquake,” he added.

Meanwhile, the MoE has decided that all educational institutions in the 11 worst-hit districts will be closed for a month which will be recovered by deducting public holidays later in the year.

HSEB has also decided to schedule 12th grade board examinations between late May and early June. “We will take out a 10-day prior notice before conducting the exams,” Hissan Chairman Shrestha said. “We will shift the exam centres from those places which have suffered structural damage.”