They are particularly irked by the government´s new transport policies which include the provision of concessional customs duty for the purchase of vehicles for public service by cooperatives or by the marginalized Badi group. [break]
While the government has given the idea a go-ahead believing that this will ease public transportation in the country as a matter of essential service, transporters who have been demanding such a status for the transport sector are now opposing the government move.
National Federation of Transport Entrepreneurs (NFTE) said that their strike would expand from Friday to be a total transport shutdown, leaving the roads unblocked for private vehicles on Thursday only.
"From Friday, we will not allow any kind of vehicle to ply on the streets," said Saroj Sitaula, NFTE treasurer.
NFTE´s strike call is being seen as a reaction to efforts being made by the government to break the monopolistic syndicate in the transport sector.
On its part, NFTE has put forward a list of 41 demands, which it wants the the government to fulfil as a condition to cancel its call for the indefinite transport strike from Thursday. Earlier, they had issued a July-31 deadline to fulfil their demands.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Labor and Transport (MoLT) on Wednesday wrote to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MoHA) to implement the regulation of essential services in context of the transport strike.
However, MoHA has not even circulated a message to its line agencies in this regard. MoHA spokesman Sudhir Kumar Shah could not be contacted for his comment.
Chief District Officer (CDO) of Kathmandu Laxmi Prasad Dhakal admitted that making transport entrepreneurs resume their service against the strike call needs tact and diplomacy on the part of the government.
"For a long time, we kept urging the government peacefully thinking we should support the state during the transition period. But the new budget has robbed off our patience," Sitaula said.
MOLT has called NFTE for talks at 1 pm on Thursday.
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