Administrative efforts to curb transportation syndicate in Palpa have so far been fruitless, with the Western Nepal Bus Entrepreneurs’ Committee gaining a strong foothold.

At the receiving ends are travellers. The committee does not allow others to operate vehicles under free competition. “Locals of rural areas are forced to travel on bus roofs and endure a risky journey because of absence of a free-competition system,” said Krishna Prasad Khanal, a passenger. “Only a few jeeps and buses ply on the roads as the committee has imposed a turn-by-turn system.”

Worn-out vehicles, including buses, taxis, mini and micro buses and jeeps carry passengers more than thrice their seating capacities.

The vehicles are owned by various transport syndicates such as Shree Nagar Transport Entrepreneurs Committee, Rampur Transportation Entrepre-neurs’ Committee, Butwal Transportation Entrepre-neurs Committee and the Western Nepal Bus Entrepreneurs’ Committee.

Although the Rampur Transportation Entrepre- neurs’ Committee is newly-formed, it operates old vehicles. The Butwal Transportation Entrepre neurs Committee operates operating 40-year old vehicles, while the Transportation Management Office and District Administration remain mute spectators. 

Legal provisions do not allow small jeeps to have more than 11 seats, while micro buses cannot carry more than 15 passengers. Minibuses can carry from 16 to 25 individuals, and not more than 42 in buses.

According to Jiwan Kumar Banjade, general secretary of the Western Nepal Bus Entrepreneurs’ Committee, the transportation business is being run through cooperation and coordination among all the stakeholders. “The syndicate system does not exist. We have implemented a turn-by-turn system to benefit the entrepreneurs,” he said.

However, every month brawls happen on routes like Siddhartha Highway, Tansen-Tamghas, Tansen-Butwal and other rural area routes because of the coerce-fully enforced syndicate.

Likewise, hundreds of vehicles operate on gravel roads in Gorkha district without obtaining route permits.

The district has seen many brawls and strikes over the syndicate system under political protection.

Eleven people lost their lives in May in a road accident which occurred in Lamjung’s Madhya Nepal Municipality. The bus was operated by Prithvi Rajmarga Entrepreneurs’ Committee without the route permit.