KATHMANDU, May 7: Taxi drivers have organized a protest after Kathmandu Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) decided not to allow them to park on the roadside. They staged protests by putting up parking boards and parking their taxis in the road.
In various areas of the metropolis, cabbies have put up stands with signs of parking in protest. According to the traffic police, clashes ensued between the police personnel and the agitating taxi drivers for some time when police personnel tried to remove the stand placed by taxi drivers.
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After police personnel tried to use force, the taxi drivers placed their taxis in the middle of the road at Maitidevi Chowk for an hour. Similarly, they brought the vehicular movement to a grinding halt by parking 25 taxis at one site in Maitidevi. After blocking the road for an hour, five taxi drivers along with the traffic police went to the metropolis for negotiations.
Meanwhile, the metropolis has said that the taxi drivers have created a problem by parking taxis in an unauthorized manner. "We had removed the board in the places where parking is not allowed. But now they are parking taxis in places including Sundhara and Maitidevi by placing the parking boards," said KMC Police Chief Rajunath Pandey.
He said that the metropolis will take action against taxi drivers after holding discussions with the concerned ward office and the traffic police for putting up unauthorized boards without holding proper discussions.
