KATHMANDU: Nepal Police is set up ‘Citizen Passenger Help Desk’ at major transit points targeting the upcoming Dashain, Tihar and Chhath festivals.
The police said that the help desk is going to be established during the meeting of the Infrastructure Development Committee held on Monday to discuss the issues related to ease and manage the movement of passengers during the upcoming festivals.
During the meeting, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Sunil Jung Shah said the help desk would be operated to minimise the chances of passengers being cheated and road accidents during the festivals.
He said, “We are setting up citizen passenger help desks at major checkpoints in view of the upcoming Dashain, Tihar and Chhath. Arrangements will be made to address the complaints of passengers charging high fare, not giving tickets, selling tickets to two or three people immediately. A team including traffic police will be deployed for the safety of passengers and to reduce road accidents. Also, we will make the movement of passengers easy and systematic by mobilizing the available manpower in the Kalanki-Nagdhunga area, which has high traffic pressure. ’
According to him, in the past, passenger help desks were set up at 14 different places. This time too, help desks will be operated targeting long, medium and short distance passengers.
Shah said that the complaints of passengers charging more than the fixed fare, not issuing tickets or selling tickets for the same seat to more than one passenger will be addressed immediately.
“If the fare is overcharged, the citizen passenger help desk will be set up to call the concerned passengers and resolve the problem immediately,” he said.
Shah said that preparations are underway to involve representatives of Nepal Police, Traffic Police and Department of Transport Management in the help desk.
He urged the Department of Transport Management to clearly provide the fare rates of various destinations in the passenger help desk.
According to him, it would be easier for the traffic police to monitor and take action once the ticket booking is opened, if the identity card of the ticket booker, the details of the transport committee concerned and the organization associated with the ticket booking are clear.
Shah also stressed on the need to operate vehicles according to the route to reduce road accidents during the festivals. He said that the ‘Q-free’ system adopted during Dashain in the past should also be managed according to the route.
Shah said that the risk of road accidents could be minimized as the drivers would be aware of the road related to Jhapa and the buses going to Pokhara would be operated on the same route.
He said that the risk of accidents increases as the drivers may not have adequate information about the condition of the road, curves and potholes while driving on an unfamiliar route.
Shah also pledged to mobilize the available human resources for traffic management along the Kalanki-Nagdhunga road section which is congested during the festival time.
According to him, police human resources will be mobilized to manage traffic congestion along the road section four days before Dashain.
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