Home Minister Bhim Rawal recently directed a meeting of security chiefs to implement a rule mandated by the Local Autonomy Act, forbidding any act disturbing public life. [break]
Police have always been blaming political pressure for not being able to control the tendency to come out onto the streets no matter for what reason.
As a first response, the Metropolitan Police Range Kathmandu Friday intervened at Kapan where protestors were demanding the immediate black-topping of a local road.
According to SP Nawaraj Silwal, police held five individuals from a crowd for a couple of hours and released them on condition of not again starting an agitation. Police are also going to broker a dialogue between the locals and the road contractor to find a way out.
"We basically discourage the tendency and look for solutions through peaceful means," said Silwal. "But now we have strong instructions not to tolerate such behavior at all."
According to data compiled by Nepal Police, the country last year witnessed road obstructions 1,011 times along the major highways alone. The trend seems more pronounced in the capital, going by a glance at the scenario over the past 30 days. After leaving the government, the Maoists resorted to one-hour road blocks every day for more than a week. Then came a couple of road accidents and there was more anger in the streets. A Maoist cadre poisoned himself and that also made life harsh for commuters. Next came the so-called ´kidnapping´ series that was each time compounded by traffic jams in different places together with violence for a couple of days to follow.
"This is too much," said a high-ranking official at the Home Ministry. "We will come up with new rules that won´t give in to misbehavior on the roads." He said the government would be proclaiming the rules, which would not just be secretively enacted by the authorities.
The problem was also mentioned in the government´s annual programs and policies read out in parliament on Thursday by President Dr Ram Baran Yadav. The President also stated that the government would make a provision for third-party insurance in case of road accidents. Road accidents have been the cause of many chakka jams.
Says spokesman of Nepal Police Binod Singh, a law already exists to prohibit road blocks and the focus at present is more on implementing it. He informed that there has been all-party coordination in Nawalparasi and the same kind of gesture is needed throughout the country to help the state guard the peace.
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