KATHMANDU, June 23: All the three unions in the public transport sector met Minister for Physical Infrastructure and Transport Basanta Kumar Nembang on Tuesday and demanded him to facilitate the process to administer vaccines against COVID-19 to all public transport workers at the earliest possible date.
While stating that the transport sector has been severely affected due to the COVID-19 and the subsequent lockdown measures, the three unions appealed to Minister Nembang to save the lives of the workers by providing vaccines immediately.
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President of the Independent Transport Workers Association of Nepal Bhim Jwala Rai, President of the Nepal Transport Workers Union Dharmaraj Bhandari and President of the All Nepal Transport Workers Union Ram Chandra Karki jointly held a meeting with Minister Nembang and presented a seven-point demand.
President of the Independent Transport Workers Association Rai said that the transport workers are at high risk of COVID-19 and demanded immediate vaccination against them. "Transport workers have not yet been vaccinated against COVID-19," he said. “We have demanded vaccination of workers within the prohibitory period as the public can stay safe only if workers are safe.”
All the three organizations have also demanded immediate relief packages for the public transport workers saying that COVID-19 had severely paralyzed their businesses. “Only prohibitory order cannot stop the transmission so we have demanded the government to vaccinate the workers and resume their work following health safety standards,” Rai said.
“We have also requested the government to set up a permanent fund to provide relief to the families of those losing their bread winners due to COVID-19 and provide education and health facilities to the affected children.”
