Nepal

Kathmandu, September 22

Minister of Home Affairs Ram Bahadur Thapa today launched a programme — Mobilisation of Volunteers for Traffic Management in Kathmandu Valley — at a function here today.

According to Metropolitan Traffic Police Division, 500 volunteers will be mobilised as part of Community-Police Partnership Programme to improve and enhance traffic management system in the valley.

The volunteers will include renowned artists, air hostesses and students from schools and colleges and members of clubs and transport companies.

The volunteers will be provided with a one-day training and orientation on traffic management. Objectives of the programme are to strengthen relationship between youths and police, raise awareness among people about the need to abide by the traffic rules, develop road discipline and ease traffic congestion by regulating vehicular movement. Around 1,000 traffic police personnel have been deputed on a daily basis to manage the traffic in the valley.

As per the programme, the traffic volunteers will help pedestrians at zebra-crossings, suggest pedestrians to use footpath and overhead bridges where such infrastructures are available, assist passengers in taking public vehicles at bus stops, manage pick-up and drop-off points, request motorists to maintain lane discipline and provide necessary support to passenger help desks.

The volunteers will be mobilised with special focus on Durbar Marg, Keshar Mahal, Jamal-Bhotahiti, New Road, Nagsthan, Tripureshwor, Koteshwor, Baneshwor, New Bus Park, Maitighar, Singha Durbar, Putalisadak, Pulchowk, Kupandol, Maharajgunj, Gaushala, Gwarko and Kalanki. Metropolitan Traffic Police Division said the traffic volunteers will be on duty for 15 days.

Speaking at the function, Minister Thapa underscored the need to reconsider the development of long term policy for improvement of traffic management system. &Unplanned urbanisation has been a major hurdle for effective traffic management in the valley. Therefore, it has become very important to take into account the issues of traffic management before undertaking any development work,& he suggested. &Mobilisation of volunteers will be helpful in making the road users aware of traffic rules,& Minister Thapa added.

Inspector General of Police Sarbendra Khanal said that traffic management had become comparatively more effective in recent years in the valley.

&Yet we have to think about building better road infrastructure and making people respect traffic rules,& he said.

According to Metropolitan Traffic Police Division, an average of 800,000 vehicles ply the valley roads on a daily basis. As many as 254 persons were killed in road accidents in the valley in fiscal 2018-19 compared to 194 in previous fiscal. Around 33 per cent of the victims were pedestrians.

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Kathmandu, September 21

Despite Kathmandu Metropolitan Cityfrequent crackdowns on street vendors, they continue to sell goods occupying the footpaths in the core city areas.

In May last year, the Municipal Executive had barred street vendors from selling any goods encroaching footpaths. It had also introduced the rule to confiscate the goods of the street vendors if they were found encroaching on footpaths and roadsides.

Despite such rules, scores of street vendors are seen doing businesses in areas such as RNAC, New Road, Sundhara area, Ratnapark and Bhotahiti in the evening. Such encroachment significantly hinders hassle-free mobility of pedestrians and compels them to walk on the busy roads risking their lives. These are the areas from where KMC had successfully removed all street vendors last year.

The footpaths of other major city areas such as Baneshwor, Koteshwor, Chabahil, Maharajgunj, Balaju, Naya Bazaar, are also occupied by hundreds of such vendors. Spillover of pedestrians onto roads due to footpath encroachment is a common sight in these areas.

While the metropolis is hell-bent on removing street vendors, hundreds of people involved in this business find it an effective way to earn bread and butter for their family.

Sarita Lamsal, 43, of Dolakha sells t-shirts and trousers on a pavement near RNAC putting a lot at stake. She knows that all her goods could be confiscated, but she has no other option for earning her keep.

Sarita, with a couple of other vendors, have deployed people to alert them if they see city police coming on rounds. &As soon as we get information about them, we pack our stuff and run away from there,& another street vendor told THT. They live in constant fear that police will fine them heavily and they will be left with nothing.

While for people like Sarita, it is a means of survival, the government seems to be indifferent towards their misery and hardship. DSP Dhanapati Sapkota, head of city police, said they were committed to removing street vendors from footpaths.

The major reason behind theKMCattempt to control the roadside business is to ease mobility of pedestrians and reduce the risk of road accidents. But, KMC has not given any effective alternatives to these street vendors to run their businesses.

Hari Kunwar, head of Department of Urban Good Governance of KMC, said selling goods on the footpath and littering public places was against the law and they would not allow street vendors to do so.

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