Transport bodies transform into companies

The transport committees and associations – that are infamous for running transport syndicate – throughout the country has formally transformed into companies from today.
Organising a formal programme in the Valley today, the Federation of Nepali National Transport Entrepreneurs (FNNTE) announced that they have transformed themselves into company modality in line with government’s direction across the country. The government had been claiming to end the transport syndicate a year ago. But it has been extending the date – in the request of the transport entrepreneurs – to transform their committees under the company modality.
“All the transport bodies under FNNTE have transformed themselves into company modality as asked by the government,” general secretary of FNNTE Saroj Sitaula, said, adding that they expect support from the government in the future to strengthen and further improve the public transportation sector of the country.
The transformation of transport bodies into companies has ended the syndicate system that existed in the public transportation sector, announced minister for Transport and Physical Infrastructure Raghubir Mahaseth, inaugurating the programme.
“The government is preparing to constitute transportation management authority,” he said, adding that the authority will address overall issues of the transportation sector. “The government has drafted the bill and is likely to table it in the upcoming meetings of the parliament.”
The government had directed transport committees to operate only after registering under the company modality more than one year ago. But they had been making one or the other excuses. The government then had frozen the bank accounts and other assets of the transport committees to force them register as a ‘company’.
Though practically, there will be no difference between a transportation committee and a transport company, the only difference is that the transport companies will come under government tax net as transport committees were exempt of the tax. 
The public transport sector has transactions worth billions of rupees annually but they are not under the income tax net. Thus, the move will help government mobilise the tax from the public transport sector.
There are over 200,000 public vehicles, including passenger and goods-carrying vehicles across the country, according to the government data that has also claimed that transport committees and associations are expected to be almost 1,500 in number in the country.

Agreement ends transport cartels

Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport and transport entrepreneurs agreed to end the cartel and operate under Company Act in the transport sector after marathon rounds of discussions.
In a meeting held at the Ministry in Kathamndu tonight, transport minister Raghubir Mahaseth, transport secretary and director general of the Department of Transport Management discussed with the agitating transport entrepreneurs to end the cartel. After the five-point agreement, the transport entrepreneurs have also expressed their commitment to support the government initiatives to end the transport cartel by officially withdrawing all kinds of protest programmes. The two sides have also reached an agreement to form a taskforce to make the transport sector more effective and transparent.
The two sides agreed to end all form of cartel in public transportation, to allow individuals with only one public transport to provide services, form a probe committee as per the mandamus issued by the Supreme Court, form a committee incorporating ministers and concerned agencies for consultation, and withdraw from all forms of protests.
Both the parties are going to organise a joint press conference tomorrow to announce the details of agreement reached between the government and transport entrepreneurs.
Late evening, the government has also released 106 transport entrepreneurs including Federation of Nepalese National Transport Entrepreneurs (FNNTE) president Yogendra Nath Karmacharya, senior vice president Bijay Bahadur Swar, general secretary Punya Prasad Sitaula (Saroj), deputy general secretary Basanta Bhandari, treasurer Kiran Kumar Khadka and in-charge of Province 3 Dharma Raj Rimal, who were arrested by the police for not operating their vehicles on Friday.
The transport entrepreneurs – on Friday – had halted public vehicles across the country to force the government to withdraw from its decisions of implementing the new regulation that has directed all the transporters to register their transport committees as a company.
Currently, most of the public vehicles operate under the committees and are blamed for evading tax.
However, the government struck as home minister Ram Bahadur Thapa directed to arrest transport entrepreneurs, cancel route permits and freez their bank accounts. The central bank – after the Home Ministry's request – froze 245 bank accounts of transport entrepreneurs and their committees in the afternoon.

Central bank freezes bank accounts of 245 transport committees

Two days after the government's decision to freeze bank accounts of the agitating transport entrepreneurs committees, the central bank froze their accounts today.
The central bank spokesperson Narayan Prasad Paudel confirmed that the Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) today has directed to all banks and financial institutions (BFIs) to freeze the bank accounts of 245 such committees of transport operators.
"We have already instructed to stop making payments from the bank accounts of these committees but today we have issued official circular," he said, adding that the banks will now freeze their accounts.
The central bank – after correspondence from the Finance Ministry – has directed BFIs to freeze the accounts of transport committees defying the government, though they have more than two months time – by the beginning of next fiscal yaer – to convert the transport committees into companies.
The transport committees, which were operating as cartels, had started agitation against a government move to implement the new Transport Regulation. The regulation has not recognised their transport committees which are blamed for practicing cartel and asked them to register under Company Act.
Though, the government can seize the money in the bank accounts of the organisations, whose registrations have been scrapped, according to the law, it is said to be against the individual right to property. 
The Home Ministry along with Transport Ministry – on Friday – had decided to freeze bank accounts of transport committees after they halted the service across the country.

Secretary directs department to take stern action against black marketeers

Though, secretary at the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers Krishna Hari Baskota today directed the officials of Department of Commerce and Supply Management to act tough against firms and individuals involved in market malpractices, the syndicate, cartel and black marketeering has been on rise in recent days making the common people pay the price.

He also urged the market monitors to take stern action against firms and individually involved in arbitrary price fixation, hoarding, using unhygienic colours and raw materials in food, and selling substandard products.

Asking the market inspectors to punish on the spot to make market monitoring more effective, Baskota also praised the department for its role in controlling market malpractices.

Despite the department has monitored the market for 1,298 times and district level for 320 times in the current fiscal year, the consumers have yet been forced to pay for substandard products and services.
Director general of the department Narayan Bidari, on the occasion, said that the department has planned to monitor the market for 20,510 times.