Workers in transportation sector face risk of losing their livelihood as the service is yet to resume KATHMANDU, JUNE 2 National Assembly lawmakers have drawn the attention of the government to the need of making transport service effective by adopting required health safety measures as life has been adversely affected due to the prolonged lockdown in the country. Lawmakers, speaking during ‘special time’ of the National Assembly session today said although the lockdown has been relaxed to some extent, the transport service should be made systematic. Udaya Sharma Poudel of the ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP) called on the government to take effective measures for controlling COVID-19. She also called for resolving hassles associated with the issuance of special passes in the transport sector. Poudel said the risk of spread of coronavirus was on the rise as transport service had not been operating well and there was also the risk of workers losing their livelihood as public transportation was yet to resume. Education sector too has been badly affected, she said. Lawmakers Thagendra Prasad Puri and Parashuram Meghi Gurung of the NCP called for operation of essential services by the courts. They also demanded effective measures from the government to curb corruption. Lawmaker Suman Raj Pyakurel of NCP drew the attention of the Ministry of Home Affairs to beef up the law and order situation. Calling for an end to rape and discrimination, Nepali Congress’ lawmaker Jitendra Narayan Dev drew the attention of the government and the Upper House of the parliament to ensure fundamental rights of the Dalit community. He said incidents of rape were on the rise and women from the Dalit community were more victimised. “Over four thousand incidents of violence against women took place in the past two years. Among these, more than 3,500 were rape incidents. Twenty-six incidents were related to murder after rape and among these, 35 per cent of the victims were Dalits,” lawmaker Dev said. He underscored the need of making the Dalit communities economically stronger by implementing special programmes to improve economic status of the poor and vulnerable Dalit families. Lawmakers Mrigendra Kumar Singh Yadav and Pramila Kumari of Janata Samjwadi Party expressed concern over the continuing exploitation of the Dalit communities and called for addressing the demands of the people, who have been staging non-violent protest demonstration putting forth various demands. A version of this article appears in e-paper on July 3, 2020, of The Himalayan Times.