Dhakal appointed DoTM DG

Kathmandu, August 2

Lawanya Kumar Dhakal, the newly appointed director general of the Department of Transport Management (DoTM), said that public transportation management and smooth distribution of smart driving licences will be his top priorities.

The Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport (MoPIT) appointed Dhakal to the DoTM's top post on Monday. Prior to his appointment to DoTM, Dhakal had been working as the secretary at the Office of Chief Minister in Province 2.

The DoTM's leadership post had become vacant after the government transferred Rupnarayan Bhattarai, the then director general of DoTM to MoPIT.

Talking to The Himalayan Times, Dhakal said, “The decision to end the long-prevailing syndicate system in the public transportation sector is a good sign. Under my leadership, the department will focus on implementing the government's earlier decisions regarding curbing syndicates.”

As the deadline for transport bodies to switch to company model has been extended to mid-January, Dhakal said that DoTM will not renew the registration of any transport body that fails to transform itself to a company within the given time.

Meanwhile, Dhakal said that DoTM will soon conduct a study of different routes across the country and issue new route permits and reshuffle existing route permits as required in different routes.