By A Staff Reporter
Kathmandu, Oct. 4: Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli has described the Dashain rush of people as a natural feature of a great festival.
“It is natural there is some pressure on transport system during the festival,” PM Oli said in a meeting with the media.
The buses were there for running on normal days, he said, adding, the Dashain rush would demand additional buses.
“But no one buys the bus to provide service only for the festival,” he said. “Entrepreneurs buy the bus to run on a regular basis. The government will not have additional vehicles for the festival.”
Talking about the rush of people to shops and banks, PM Oli said that it would be unwelcome to stop people from crowding around the market.
“Crowded shops are natural at this time,” he said.
People would come to exchange old notes for new ones at the same time, he said, adding, that resulted in long queues in front of the banks.
“All need the new notes now, all come to the banks to exchange their notes now. When there are many people, there have to be lines. This is natural for festivals,” he said. “Had the people obtained new notes regularly, the serpentine queues would not have been there.”
People would not come to get the new notes even if they were offered the exchange service a little early on before the Dashain, he said. “For people to come for new notes, the festival mood needs to grip them.”
These were festive situations, crowds in transport, shops and counters, he said.
“To make these situations convenient and manage them well, I have asked authorities to improve coordination,” PM Oli said. “Where the buses would stop for a while on normal days, they will now be more frequent. But they are not allowed to put passengers on the hood. They are not allowed to run too fast on roads to invite accidents. The government has paid attention to this. The government has paid attention to not allowing the market prices to soar.”