Siddartha Highway remains obstructed for 10th day

PALPA, Dec 14: Thousands of passengers have been facing problems on Palpa-Pokhara section of Siddartha Highway for the past 10 days as the highway section remains obstructed, owing to a dispute between transport operators´ committees.



The highway section has been obstructed since December 5 because of a dispute between Western Nepal Bus Operators´ Committee (WNBOC) and four Transport Committees of Gandaki zone, that includes Kaligandaki Transport, Gandaki Minibus Operators´ Committee, Andhikhola Bus Operators´ Committee and Prithvi Bus Operators´ Committee.[break]



The disputing sides have prevented buses from crossing the Ramdi bazaar along the border of Palpa and Syangja districts. Buses coming from both the sides have remained at Ramdi bazaar for the past 10 days.



This has forced a lot of passengers to camp in the bazaar, and the price of commodities has gone up. The passengers are paying exorbitant sums for food. Bhakta Shrestha, a local businessman, said the prices have gone up because of shortage of supplies.



Buses arriving from Syangja and Pokhara have been stopped at one end of the Ramdi bridge, while those arriving from Butwal and Palpa have been stopped at the other end. After crossing the bridge, passengers take another bus to reach their destination.



A lot of tourists travel along this route that normally sees around 300 vehicles every day.



Sub-inspector Loknath Pande of Ramdi Police Post said the obstruction has severely inconvenienced tourists, elderly, handicapped and women carrying children.



The disputing sides have accused each other of flouting an agreement.



“It was agreed earlier that buses of both the sides would wait at the bus stand at Prithvichowk in Pokhara for just 20 minutes,” said Ganesh Basyal, chairman of WNBOC. He added that the problem arose after buses started flouting the agreement.



Meanwhile, Pushpa Pokharel, secretary of Gandaki Minibus Operators´ Committee, said there was an agreement to let buses of the two sides operate on alternative days. “The dispute emerged after the agreement was not honored,” he said.



Nandi Kishore Tripathi, Chief District Officer of Syangja, said repeated attempts to resolve the dispute has not paid off. Instead, the dispute has only grown with each passing day.

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