Transport operators warn of protest

BY OUR CORRESPONDENT Bhairahawa, July 29: Nepali truck operators have said that they have suffered after the Indian overload vehicles were allowed to operate in breach of the rules. They have demanded for the implementation of the agreement reached with them under the coordination of former chief district officer of Rupandehi district, Asman Tamang, on September 3, 2021.

They have demanded that the adjusted fare rates introduced by the government after seven years on June 13, 2021 be implemented, overloaded vehicles be operated with matching load, transportation system be organised, and the use of Indian vehicles be discouraged. They complained that while the Indian vehicles have been operating unhindered, Nepali ones have been facing obstructions. 

Paschimanchal Transport Business Committee vice-chair Pratap Bhahadur Karki said that the decisions made in line with the meeting of load regulation of the cargo vehicles held on September 3, 2021 to operate the vehicles passing from the customs point as mentioned in the manual in accordance with the load regulation of cargo vehicles Act 2074 have not been implemented. Likewise, the provision to measure the weight of the loaded vehicles at Measurement Bridge and adjust the weight at the spot if they are found with extra weights and transport them has not been implemented, he added. 

General secretary of the committee Hari Prasad Kadel said that the police administrations had allowed overloaded vehicles even after a parking lot was opened at Belahiya Bypass on July 17, 2022 in coordination with Lumbini Truck Business Association to implement the decisions. He added that the police would charge the Indian vehicles and let them free even if they were found with the load thrice as high as that of the other vehicles.

Transport businessmen has warned that they would launch a protest if the decision made by the Bhairahawa Lumbini Truck Association and the Paschimanchal Truck Business Committee on July 17, 2022 to operate the vehicles only after weighing the load at the parking was not implemented.