KATHMANDU, AUG 16 -The government has warned agitating transport entrepreneurs not to call a strike as it is against the law to shut down transport services. Following a meeting with representatives of transport entrepreneurs on Tuesday, the Ministry of Labour and Transport Management has requested the prime minister and the home minister to strictly enforce the Essential Services Operation Act to prevent the planned protest.
Last month, the Home Ministry had made a list of 16 service sectors based on the Essential Services Operation Act where strikes are prohibited to prevent suffering to the general public. Defying the warning, transport entrepreneurs have threatened to call an indefinite nationwide strike from Thursday.
“We have urged transport entrepreneurs to withdraw the planned strike and sit for talks with detailed home work regarding their 41-point demand,” said Krishna Hari Pushkar Karna, assistant spokesperson of the Ministry of Labour and Transport. He added that the representatives of the transport entrepreneurs had promised at the meeting with the government talk team on
Tuesday to withdraw the strike after consultations with their struggle committee.
The government team headed by Dinesh Hari Adhikari, secretary at the Ministry of Labour and Transport, and including officials from the ministries of Finance, Commerce and Home Affairs had met with the representatives. However, no concrete decision could be reached as their major demands were related to the Ministry of Finance. The team is scheduled to sit for another round of talks on Thursday.
Dol Nath Khanal, general secretary of the Nepal Transport Entrepreneurs National Federation, said that they had held general discussions on their demands at Thursday’s meeting. “Talks with the government and our protest will continue simultaneously,” he added.
Four major transport entrepreneurs federations including the Nepal Transport Entrepreneurs National Federation, Federation of Truck Tanker and Transport Entrepreneurs-Nepal and Nepal Petroleum Transport Entrepreneurs Federation have demanded that the government fulfil their 41-point demand.
Their demands include annulment of the provision to waive customs duty on the import of taxicabs for youths of the Badi community interested in operating taxis, cancellation of the plan to operate bus or taxi services in the Kathmandu Valley and other urban areas through the involvement of transport workers by establishing cooperatives, timely adjustment of transport fares as per the fuel price hike and implementation of various agreements reached with them in the past.
Arjun Ranabhat, president of the Federation of Truck Tanker and Transport Entrepreneurs-Nepal, said that they would not call off the strike until the government addressed their demands. “There is no meaning in calling off the strike as our first round of talks held on Tuesday was just the beginning,” he added.
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