The Nepal Truck and Tankers Entrepreneurs Federation (NTTEF) have condemned the government´s decision, saying that the new arrangement would adversely affect the truckers´ business and subject to risk truck operators´ investments worth Rs 50 billion.
“The government implemented the decision without consulting us,” said Arjun Ranabhat, president of NTTEF. “We will continue with our strike until and unless the government revokes this arrangement.”
The DoC, meanwhile, has said that it enforced the new arrangement because it believes that moving goods in sealed containers would help check duty evasion and prevent revenue leakage. The arrangement was implemented as a part of the program that Finance Minister Dr Babu Ram Bhattarai announced in the budget for the current fiscal year.
Following the budget speech, the NTTEF´s officials had met with the finance minister and had asked him to make a pledge that more time would be given to the truckers to switch to the new container services. “He responded positively, but he did not stand by his words,” said Ranabhat.
Secretary of Western Transport Entrepreneurs Association (WTEA) Ganesh Pant stated that the government´s implementing the program so suddenly had made it difficult for the truckers to adjust to the changes called for.
According to the NTTEF, some 3,000 trucks are directly involved in transferring goods and consignments everyday from the Bhairahawa, Birgunj, Biratnagar and Mechi customs to Kathmandu.
“Our demand is plain and simple: the government must not implement the new measures without first pledging that sufficient adjustment time will be provided and without first offering alternatives to truck entrepreneurs,” said Ranabhat. He also stated that the system calls for the trucking companies to instantly add investments--for the containers--of some Rs 5 billion.
As an alternative to containers, the federation had suggested that the government allow truckers to convert their vehicles into encased carriers that could be sealed and to let them continue business with these modified trucks. But the government denied the request.
Moreover, the federation officials are now even angrier because policemen baton charged their members while they were peacefully protesting the new arrangement on Friday. They have demanded that the government take action against the superintendent of police, the chief district offer and the chief of Bhairahawa customs.
Following the police intervention on the truckers´ protest, local bus operators did not operate services along the Butwal-Bhairahawa route, expressing solidarity with the truckers´ protest. And with that it, wasn´t just goods, but also travelers, who remained stranded.
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