Nepal

The government has decided to enforce a ‘time card’ system for public vehicles operating on long routes to ensure efficient traffic management and curb road accidents during this festival season.

Dashain, Tihar and Chhath – the most prominent festivals of Nepalis - are only a week away. They together last for about a month. 

A committee, expressly set up by the Home Ministry for the purpose, made 14 road safety decisions at a meeting on Saturday. The time card system is also being enforced to discourage the tendency of driving at high speed to reach the destination earlier.  

The meeting, chaired by Home Ministry spokesperson and committee coordinator Phanindra Mani Pokharel, decided to implement the time card system by identifying places on the major highways in coordination with Nepal Police, the Department of Transport Management and the transport entrepreneurs.

As per the decisions, the law enforcement agencies will ensure that vehicles are not carrying passengers on the rooftop carriers or letting them travel by hanging on the vehicle door and windows, and monitoring as needed to prevent drunk-driving.

As well as making a first aid kit mandatory for all public vehicles, the decision requires the vehicle operators to plaster stickers with information such as a police hotline number, carry a signal object in the event of an accident, and make arrangements for sanitising the vehicle.

Other decisions included making public hotline numbers for passengers to complain about rash driving, and arrangements for immediate response from all police units to such complaints. 

The Department of Transport Management,  as per the Ministry of Home Affairs instructions, will be setting up checkpoints at major locations in Kathmandu valley to check on vehicles operating on the medium and long routes beginning Sunday. Such checkings will be carried out in coordination with the authorised seller, the Traffic Police and the transport entrepreneurs. 

The transport entrepreneurs’ federation will be required to assign a contact person in every province and district for the smooth operation of vehicles and provide his/her phone number to Nepal Police. - RSS