Parliament on Sunday held deliberations on a motion of public importance on ways to curb the rising number of road accidents that have been claiming innocent lives.

Lawmakers speaking at Sunday’s Parliament meeting called for introducing stringent laws.

CPN-UML lawmaker Rabindra Adhikari had tabled the motion demanding that the House take up road accident issue seriously as hundreds of people are losing their lives every year and direct the government to take immediate measures to curb road crashes.

Over a dozen lawmakers participated in the discussion on Sunday.

More than 60 people have died in road accidents in different parts of the country in the last two weeks.

The government cannot shirk responsibility just by pointing fingers at drivers, traffic police or transport entrepreneurs or their syndicates for increasing road accidents, said Adhikari while addressing the Parliament meeting.

“Monitoring and ensuring road safety is also government’s responsibility,” he added. “Strong laws and their proper implementation and proper management of roads and vehicles can bring the number of accidents down.” Minister for Physical Infrastructure and Transport Ramesh Lekhak said, “The government is working to amend the law to ensure that route permits of vehicles carrying passengers beyond capacity are annulled and bar the vehicles without route permits from plying the roads.”

“The amendment will also include stringent measures such as revoking driver’s license if he is operating on any particular route without route permit,” he said.

Also at Sunday’s meeting, Minister for Energy Janardan Sharma on Sunday tabled the “SAARC Framework Agreement on Energy Cooperation (Electricity)” in Parliament.

Likewise, on behalf of Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister Bimalendra Nidhi, Minister Lekhak tabled a proposal seeking the consent of the House to present a bill relating to the control of torture, cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, 2071.

Press Council pulls up online sites over accident pictures

KATHMANDU: Press Council Nepal (PCN) has sought clarifications from more than half a dozen online news portals for publishing “gruesome photographs” of the victims of the Trishuli bus accident.

The media monitoring body has also asked them to remove the photographs from their sites immediately.

“Publishing gruesome pictures of the deceased in the media is against the Journalists Code of Conduct,” said PCN Chairperson Borna Bahadur Kari. “It’s not just about the code of conduct, but also about the impact it can have on the readers.”

At least 22 people died on Friday when a bus en route from Rautahat to Pokhara plunged into the Trishuli river at around 3:30am at Chandibhanjyang-6 in Chitwan district. 

According to Karki, the PCN has directed onlinekhabar.com, peacepokhara.com, ratopati.com, everestdaily.com, demokhabar.com, news24nepal.com and dcnepal.com to furnish clarification within seven days.

Clause 4 (9) of the Journalist Code of Conduct-2060 (Amended 2064) bars media from publishing gruesome pictures, which may create terror, incite feeling of hatred and disappointment in society.