Transporters declare indefinite strike

Life, already crippled due to strikes by traort entrepreneurs for the last two days, is bound to worsen in the days ahead."We are compelled to call traort strike throughout the country as the government is not ready to increase fare as per a recommendation of a technical committee," said Dinesh Bhandari, president of NTENF.The Ministry of Labor and Traort Management (MoLTM) decided on Thursday to increase public traort fares by a flat 25 percent taking the rates fixed two years back as the base.Ramesh Lekhak, Minister for Labor and Traort Management said the government urged traort entrepreneurs in the meeting to comply with the government set fares."We requested entrepreneurs to follow the rate fixed by the government but they decided to reject our proposal and continue with the strike," Lekhak told the Post."As we want to resolve the problem through dialogue, we will call them for dialogue tomorrow also," said Lekhak.

KATHMANDU, June 23 - Negotiation between transport entrepreneurs and the government broke down inconclusively on Sunday after both sides remained adamant on their respective stances.entrepreneurs in a bid to settle the dispute over public transport fare hike.A meeting of Nepal transport Entrepreneurs' National Federation (NTENF) held in the capital decided ... ...stage an indefinite transport strike across the country to press the government to fulfill their demand to raise fares by 25 to 35 percent. Life, already crippled due to strikes by transport entrepreneurs for the last two days, is bound to worsen in the days ahead."We are compelled to call transport strike throughout the country as the government is not ready to increase fare as per a recommendation of a technical committee," said Dinesh Bhandari, president of NTENF.The Ministry of Labor and transport Management (MoLTM) decided on Thursday to increase public transport fares by a flat 25 percent taking the rates fixed two years back as the base.Ramesh Lekhak, Minister for Labor and transport Management said the government urged transport entrepreneurs in the meeting to comply with the government set fares."We requested entrepreneurs to follow the rate fixed by the government but they decided to reject our proposal and continue with the strike," Lekhak told the Post."As we want to resolve the problem through dialogue, we will call them for dialogue tomorrow also," said Lekhak. "We have also called agitating students, who are demanding 50 percent concession on fare, for discussion.However, He ruled out the possibility of imposing Essential Service Act immediately to ensure smooth transportation.A technical committee headed by Khagendra Mani Pokharel, director general of Department of transport Management, had recommended to MoLTM to increase transport fares by 25 to 35 percent depending to the routes and places.Leaders of consumer forums have demanded that the government declare the strike in the transportation sector illegal. Jyoti Baniya, general secretary of Consumer Rights Protection Forum said consumers will take to the streets defying the strikes if transport entrepreneurs continue their protest ignoring people's hardship."We demanded that the government declare the strike illegal and enforce Essential Service Act in the transport sector to foil the strike, which has caused hardship to the general public," said Baniya, who was also present at the meeting.

Add to: del.icio.us | Digg