National
Firms garaging buses to lose permit
In another bold move, the government has decided to cancel the route permits issued to public vehicles if they disrupt traffic as part of their scheduled agitation.Chandan Kumar Mandal
In another bold move, the government has decided to cancel the route permits issued to public vehicles if they disrupt traffic as part of their scheduled agitation.
Public transport firms are protesting against the government’s announcement to ban their committees or associations in order to end syndicates in the sector. They have announced a series of protests including traffic disruption to garaging their vehicles.
Route permits of the vehicles refusing to ferry passengers will be revoked immediately, the Department of Transport Management warned. “No one can disrupt essential services and trouble the people. If they don’t operate their vehicles, we’ll scrap their route permits the same day,” said Rupnarayan Bhattarai, director general of the department.
Public transport committees, agitated against the recently amended Transport Management Directives (2004) and the Cabinet’s decision now to renew transport committees across the country, have unveiled a series of protest programmes, including a vehicular strike.
The government has been preparing a list of buses owned by private firms, security forces and educational institutions, to be used for public conveyance if the agitating operators ground their services.
After the government crackdown, bus operators running a syndicate in public transport have started discreetly registering as companies. A number of transport firms have been visiting the Company Registrar’s Office after the government decision to ban their committees and associations.
Public transport companies are enquiring about the company registration procedure, a mandatory step for entering the transport sector now.
According to Rajendra Thapa, spokesperson for the CRO, a total of 23 committees and associations have applied for listing as companies as of Friday evening. They have started reserving their names fearing that their brands might be booked by others.
“We have seen a rise in the number of public transport committees and associations visiting our office,” said Thapa.
Those committees and associations, which have a monopoly, have also visited the CRO and reserved their company names. Araniko Yatayat, one of the strongest committees in the transport sector which spearheads the ongoing battle, also made the fresh move.
According to sources, Shyam Prasad Lama, president of the Araniko Yatayat Sewa Samiti that supports the protest, booked the company’s name in case a private company is made mandatory.
Mohan Bahadur Shrestha, proprietor of Mayur Yatayat, said transport operators from different parts of the country have been inquiring him about the process.