Vehicles charging exorbitant fare face action in Dhading

By Murari Adhikari,Dhadhing, Oct. 7: Vehicles charging exorbitant fare to passengers by taking advantage of the festive season and destruction of roads have been fined.

The District Administration Office of Dhading and the District Traffic Police Office conducted surprise inspections along Prithvi Highway and took action against dozens of vehicles for charging excessive fares.  

On Friday evening alone, 37 vehicles were penalised, according to the Dhading Traffic Police Office. 

A microbus with registration number Bagmati Province 03-001J-0726, travelling between Kathmandu and Dhading, was fined Rs. 5,000 for charging higher than the fixed fares to passengers. 

Another microbus, Bagmati Province 03-001J-0810, was fined Rs. 5,000 for being unclean and charging excessive fare. 

Similarly, another microbus with registration number Bagmati Province 03-001J-0635 was fined Rs. 5,000 for lacking cleanliness, not having a dustbin, and overcharging passengers. 

Additionally, a bus with registration number Bagmati Province 3-03-001K-0138 was fined Rs. 5,000 for not displaying the fare rate and carrying passengers exceeding its seat capacity. 

A microbus with registration number Ga 1 Kha 5395 of Prithvi Pvt. Ltd. was fined Rs. 5,000 for carrying more passengers than permitted.  

Despite passengers purchasing tickets at the designated fare rates from the ticket counters, some vehicles were found charging extra in the middle of the highway or roads during the travel. To address these complaints, surprise inspections were conducted, and the District Administration Office of Dhading stated that such inspections would continue regularly.  

In total, 32 vehicles, including Bolero vans, that were found carrying passengers in unsafe conditions and violating traffic rules were penalised by various units of the District Traffic Police.

Meanwhile, RSS writes Bhakunde-Kanpur-Kottemaal-Pokhari Narayansthan-Mechhepaua road has resumed from Sunday. The road remained blocked due to damages caused by incessant rain for the past seven days. 

Chair of Temal Rural Municipality, Dalman Thokar, said that passenger buses will be operated in the road from today. Due to the disruption of rural roads, traffic between villages and cities was cut off, and transportation of materials including health care and foodstuff had become a problem. 

He said that life in the Rural Municipality will return to normalcy after passenger buses start operating from Sunday. For now, the road is open for small vehicles only and those using small vehicles can use the road as an alternative route, said Thokar.

Similarly, the rural municipality has also resumed operation of the road connecting Narayansthan via Kaldhar-Metwal-Kuruwas-Kangling of Temal rural municipality ward no. 7. 

According to Krishna Giri, Police Inspector of the Area Police Office, Mangaltar, 13 vehicles stuck on the BP highway have been sent from Bhakunde to Kathmandu via Narayansthan.

More than 500 vehicles including their drivers and assistants remain stranded on the BP Highway and they could be rescued by using the alternative routes from today, added Giri.