Koteshwor Traffic Police has booked 18 Tata Sumo transport operators from Koteshwor and Jadibuti area for charging passengers exorbitant ticket fares for the last one week.

Koteshwor Police Inspector Diwash Bahadur Joshi said in the past one week, the traffic department has returned 50 passengers’ money.

“We found the public vehicles operators charging passengers Rs 300 to Rs 500 more, exceeding the ticket price decided by the government,” said Joshi.

Transport owners who charged more were sent to the Department of Transport Management (DTM) office to pay fine Rs 5,000 each, he said.

Koteshwor is the central area from where Tata Sumo vehicles leave for Kakarbhitta, Dharan, Udayapur, Janakpur, Sindhuli and many other eastern part of the nation.

“Our surveillance will be stricter in the days to come. We request passengers to complain to us if any ticket counter charges more than the bus fares announced by the government,” said Joshi.

Although the Metropolitan Traffic Police Division (MTPD) had set up 13 help desks last week in different parts of the Kathmandu valley to monitor black marketing of bus tickets and help make passengers’ journey easier during the Dashain festival, the MTPD has not booked single bus owner except in Koteshwor areas.

MTPD Spokesperson and Superintendent of Police Rajkumar Lamsal said the monitoring would be stricter from Ghatasthapana or October 10 onwards.  “Public mobility will increase from Ghatasthapa, and there is a chance of many being cheated by operators,” he said.

Passengers can complain about ill-treatment from bus operators, harassment and arbitrary fees charged by the bus owners or ticket counter to the nearest help desk for positive intervention.

The MTPD has set up help desks at Nagdhunga, Kalanki, Swayambhu, Naya Bus Park, Purano Bus Park Sundhara, Chabahil, Tilganga, Koteshwor, Jagate, Lagankhel and Balkhu. Festival observers estimate around three million people would leave the Valley and travel to their respective home-towns in the country to celebrate Dashain with their family.