KATHMANDU, Nov 23: Vehicular movement along major road sections of the Kathmandu valley was reduced to a snail’s pace for more than four hours on Friday as three major political protests erupted at different venues in the capital.
The valley denizens had to face major traffic jams in the Maitighar-Koteshwar road section, Durbarmarg area and Kantipath to Maharajgunj road section from 11 am to 4 pm as demonstrators from various political parties and activists supporting various agendas poured onto the streets of Kathmandu.
According to the police, 123 checkpoints were set up in Kathmandu, while around 200 additional traffic police personnel deployed in the valley to manage the expected traffic congestion.
Spokesperson for the Kathmandu Valley Traffic Police Office (KVTPO), Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Uma Prasad Chaturbedi informed Republica that checkpoints were set up in the road sections leading to the key protest venues and traffic diversions were created at the crossroads leading to the venues.
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“While under normal circumstances around 400 traffic police personnel are deployed in the valley, 644 personnel were mobilized on Friday to manage the traffic congestion,” SSP Chaturbedi said, “We also created traffic diversions at crossroads that lead to the key protest venues.”
The ruling CPN-UML staged a show of strength in the capital with tens of thousands of party leaders, cadres and supporters, ostensibly to ‘raise awareness against anarchy’. The awareness rally started from various spots in the valley, converging at Bhadrakali at around 11 am, passing through Sundhara, Bir Hospital, Ghantaghar, Ratna Park and Durbarmarg.
The Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) organized a protest at Maitighar as a continuation of its drive demanding the government to provide reparations to the victims of cooperative frauds across the country. The drive is a part of the opposition party’s second phase of protest against the arrest of its party chairman Rabi Lamichhane, who was detained from the party’s central office on October 18.
Since the arrest, Lamichhane has been kept in judicial custody in Pokhara for investigation into his alleged involvement in defrauding the depositors of Suryadarshan cooperative following a two-day long recording of statement in Butwal for similar charges at Supreme cooperative.
Separately, supporters of medical entrepreneur Durga Prasai staged a demonstration in the Koteshwar area protesting against his arrest, as a ‘campaign to protect nation, nationalism, religion, culture and citizens’. Prasai, who was arrested on charges of spreading misleading rumors against Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, is currently in custody.
The Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) arrested Prasai on Tuesday morning from his house in Bhaktapur after a single bench of Judge Madhav Prasad Adhikari granted permission on Wednesday to hold Prasai in custody for five days for further investigation.
Despite the early dissemination of information about the demonstration taking place during the day and the preparations from the KVTPO in anticipation of traffic congestion, the vehicular movement had turned chaotic from 11 am to 4 pm on Friday.
SSP Chaturbedi pointed out the capacity of the roads of the valley and the high density of vehicles as the inability of the KVTPO to manage traffic congestion during the day. “We can increase the number of personnel on duty but we cannot increase the capacity of the roads or decrease the density of motor vehicles,” he told Republica, “However, we have realized that we will have to come up with better alternatives in the future.”
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