DADELDHURA, Nov 21: People living around the district headquarters of Dadeldhuraa are forced to cough up Rs 100 to travel just seven kilometers.
Public jeeps affiliated with the transport syndicate Ugratara Dadeldhura Public Transport Entrepreneurs Committee have been charging the commuters arbitrary fares on blacktopped roads.
There are more than 200 five-seater jeeps affiliated with the transport committee. While vehicles have been charging Rs 50 to Rs 100 for the distance, the stakeholders concerned including the local government and police administration have chosen to ignore the issue.
Those surcharging passengers to be punished
The government had recently directed the operators of the five-seater jeeps to remove the additional uncomfortable seats in the back of the vehicles. Likewise, traffic police also tightened their monitoring after jeeps started carrying four times more passengers than their capacity.
The measure was taken due to frequent road accidents resulting from overloading. Just recently on Saturday, an overloaded pick-up jeep en route to the district headquarters Bagbazaar from Bageshwar Rural Municipality met with an accident, killing two on the spot.
Following the changes, the jeep operators have been surcharging the passengers to make up for the 'loss' they incur due to fewer passengers on board. While the urban residents are charged hefty fares, people in the rural areas of the district have no means of transportation as public vehicles refuse to ply the rural roads.
Although the traffic police are taking action against jeeps carrying passengers over their capacity, none of the stakeholders including the local government, police and public vehicle entrepreneurs have voiced against the arbitrary fare.
Locals have accused the police of enforcing rules only after big accidents. They said the police ignore the overloaded vehicles as they are bribed by the jeep operators.
“It has already been over 10 years since such jeeps came into operation. Had the police started enforcing the rules earlier, we wouldn't be facing this problem today,” said Dambar Saki, a local of Bagbazaar.
