National
Fare hike call before Dashain
The opening date for bus ticket booking for the upcoming Dashain festival has not been fixed yet due to the unfair demands put forth by transport operators, according to Department of Transport Management (DoTM).Anup Ojha
The opening date for bus ticket booking for the upcoming Dashain festival has not been fixed yet due to the unfair demands put forth by transport operators, according to Department of Transport Management (DoTM).
“Transport operators want to hike the travel fare ahead of the festival. In this circumstance, we have been unable to finalise the opening date for ticket booking,” said Rupnarayan Bhattarai, director general of the DoTM.
The department has called a meeting with the transport operators on Thursday to sort the issue out.
Last year also transport operators had threatened not to open the ticket booking for Dashain until the government gave them the route permits to ply the destinations of their choice. The DoTM is resolute on not giving into the demands of transport operators this time around.
“We have Sajha Yatayat at our disposal and we can also use 300,000 other vehicles to take the people to their destinations,” said Bhattarai.
Transport operators, meanwhile, claim that there is nothing unfair about their demand for hiking the travel fare.
Saroj Sitaula, the general secretary of Federation of Nepalese National Transport Entrepreneurs), said since the rates of vehicle parts have increased after 2015, their cannot do without increasing the fare.