Head of District Traffic Police in Gulariya Sub-Inspector Rudra Shahi conceded that vehicles have been carrying passengers above capacity. [break]
“They continue to carry excess passengers despite repeated fines,” rued Shahi. “We have generated 30 percent extra revenue in the last month through fines but passengers still have to make unsafe journeys due to overcrowding,” Shahi said.
To make matters worse, passengers have to pay much more to travel in such atrocious fashion, for lack of proper monitoring by the authorities. The government has set a rate of Rs 1.25/km but these vehicles charge much more even on the East-West Highway. “The conductor demanded Rs 45 from me just five kilometers from Nepalgunj though the fare is only Rs 30,” complained Keshav Khadka of Gulariya.
“I had to pay the amount as he asked me to leave the jeep if I didn´t want to pay,” Khadka added. Traffic police can slap a fine of Rs 200 and the Office of Transport Management up to Rs 1,000 on vehicles charging exorbitant fare, but these vehicles have been thriving in the absence of monitoring.
The vehicles plying these routes don´t even give fare concessions to students, the disabled and victims of Janaandolan II and do not put up fare charts even at bus stops.
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