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Public transporters ‘must register as private companies by Dec 16’
The authorities have said they will take punitive action against public transport operators that do not register as private companies before the deadline ends on Sunday.bookmark
Chandan Kumar Mandal
Published at : December 11, 2018
Updated at : December 12, 2018 08:19
Kathmandu
The authorities have said they will take punitive action against public transport operators that do not register as private companies before the deadline ends on Sunday.
The Department of Transport Management (DoTM) has said vehicles not registered with the Office of the Company Registrar as well as with the transport department will not be allowed to operate from December 16.
Following the government crackdown on organised syndicate in the public transport sector, public transport operators are required to register as companies at the Company Registrar Office as per the latest amendment to the Transport Management Directives-2004 early this year.
The amendment has made it mandatory for the transport entrepreneurs to register as private companies, which were earlier registered with several transport committees and associations nationwide.
The new amendment to the directive followed by the Cabinet decision, on April 17, that stopped registration and renewal of public transport committees and associations, compelled transport operators to register as private companies. However, as public transport operators did not register as companies within the last fiscal year, the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport (MoPIT) extended the registration deadline up to mid-December. Ministry officials said entrepreneurs did not have sufficient time frame to complete the mandatory procedures.
Transport department spokesperson Gokarna Prasad Upadhyaya told the Post no further extension would be given to operators for company registration of public vehicles.
“We shall take action if vehicles are not registered before the deadline. Such vehicles would be barred from plying and will be taken off the road,” said Upadhyaya.
The mandatory registration of the vehicles with the Company Registrar Office has been dismal in the aftermath of the crackdown on public transport syndicate.
The Company Registrar Office has registered 2,800 new transport companies and 7,000 vehicles up to mid-November, said Upadhyaya. So far, the Valley has registered the highest number of public vehicles, almost 1,900 including large and small. The country currently has nearly 325,000 public vehicles, transport ministry data shows.
The government faces a daunting task of migrating public transport operators to company status. Earlier, these transport operators functioned as non-profit organizations.
After registering as private companies, the operators have to again enlist with the transport department for getting the route permit so that they can ply on the road.
Along with registering as companies, the government also needs to manage route permit for these vehicles. The directive had also opened nationwide route permit to all the interested entrepreneurs without seeking approval from transport committees.
“The department is discussing the modalities to distribute route permits to these vehicle operators. We shall soon finalise the mechanism to reshuffle the existing routes and allocate route permits,” concluded Upadhyaya.
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