September 10: Transport entrepreneurs have announced to resume all kinds of public transportation services from September 17.

The Federation of Nepal National Transport Entrepreneurs (FNNTE) along with three trade unions on Wednesday decided to operate public vehicles along long and short routes from September 17.

The government had banned public transportation on March 24 to control the spread of coronavirus. The government briefly lifted the ban on intra-district transportation on July 9, with the three districts of Kathmandu valley being the only exception. Although public transportation was allowed within other districts, Kathmandu, Lalitpur and Bhaktapur were the only three districts where inter-district transportation was allowed briefly.

However, the district administration offices of Kathmandu Valley again imposed prohibitory order on August 19 along with various other districts, bringing transportation to a halt once again.

The irked transport entrepreneurs have now decided to operate their vehicles even if the government does not lift the restriction.

The transport entrepreneurs recently met with the Director General of the Department of Transport Management Gogal Bahadur Hamal and urged him to take the initiative for resuming transportation service.

“We have requested the government to resume transportation service. If the government doesn’t fulfill our demand, we will still operate our vehicles,” says Yogendra Nath Karmacharya, president of FNNTE.

He warned that the transport entrepreneurs are ready to defy the prohibitory order. He is of the view that transport entrepreneurs should be allowed to operate their vehicles by following safety standards set by the government.

It is estimated that more than 1 million people associated with the transportation sector have been rendered jobless due to the lockdown and prohibitory order imposed by the government.