KATHMANDU, May 15: In a move to implement the lockdown orders more effectively, the Ministry of Home Affairs has decided to invalidate all passes issued by the district administration offices across the country, not allowing vehicles to ply even within the same district from coming Saturday.

However, this will not be applied to those vehicles carrying essential goods including medicines and food, according to the spokesperson for the ministry, Kedarnath Sharma.

"We found that the vehicle passes issued by the district administration offices (DAOs) were grossly misused by the people. People were found using a vehicle pass for several days even though it was given to them for a single day. Therefore, those passes which were issued before will be invalidated from coming Saturday," Sharma told Republica Online.

The growing misuse of vehicle passes has also contributed to the rise in the number of COVID-19 cases in various parts of the country.

Spokesperson Sharma said that the DAOs will issue vehicle passes as per the necessity in the coming days. "Those vehicles which were plying the roads within the district on the basis of a time-card issued a few days ago will have to get new passes to be issued from the authorities concerned," Sharma said.

Keeping in mind the rising coronavirus cases, the government will enforce various measures to implement the lockdown orders, he added.

Earlier on Tuesday, the ministry had decided to invalidate all passes issued by DAOs across the country, allowing vehicles to ply from one district to another. However, the decision was not meant for vehicles used for emergencies.

The government imposed lockdown orders for the first time on March 24, 2020 in a bid to curb the spread of coronavirus.

 
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