Vehicles in Karnali roads carry passengers exceeding their capacity

BY OUR CORRESPONDENT,Humla, July 16: Vehicles operating along the Karnali Corridor and internal roads within Humla district have been carrying passengers exceeding their capacity. A Bolero jeep does not move towards its destination until it has 14 passengers, causing passengers to travel in a cramped condition.

Shankar Budha, a passenger travelling in a Bolero jeep from Dhand Kermi in Namkha Rural Municipality-3, said that he did not have any other option but to travel in a crowded vehicle or sometimes on the roof. He said that jeep drivers refused to head towards Hilsa unless they had 16 passengers, forcing passengers to travel in an overloaded jeep. He said that due to insufficient vehicles operating on the route, they had to wait until the jeeps get crowded.

Another passenger heading towards Hilsa, Kul Bahadur Rawal, said that it was impossible to reach the destination if the driver’s demands were not met. 

Traffic police constable Chandra Bahadur Dangi said that many vehicles were carrying more passengers than their capacity as there were no traffic police on that route. He said that although the bolero jeep had a capacity of carrying only five passengers and the closed-body bolero jeep had a capacity of carrying 12 passengers, many jeeps were travelling with at least 16 passengers.

Stating that they could not take action against those vehicles due to the lack of presence of traffic police, he said that they had sent a letter to the centre to establish a traffic police post in Yari of Namkha Rural Municipality-5 to check the vehicles operating towards Hilsa. He said that once the traffic police post is established in Yari, this problem will be resolved.