Kathmandu, July 19

Traders and entrepreneurs have protested the decision of the government to implement the Vehicle and Consignment Tracking System (VCTS).

While traders have been urging the government to roll back its decision, the National Entrepreneurs Federation of Nepal (NEFN) today staged a protest asking the government not to make VCTS mandatory for now.

In a bid to keep track of the whereabouts of cargo ferrying containers and trucks, the government had introduced the web-based VCTS that came into effect from July 17, the first day of the 2019-20 fiscal year.

Inaugurating the official beginning of VCTS, Finance Minister Yubaraj Khatiwada had said the system would help maintain transparency in trade and formalise trade and businesses in the country.

However, traders have said that the system is ineffective for developing countries like Nepal. As part of the protest against the VCTS implementation, traders have even stopped ferrying goods to and from Nepal.

“The government’s decision to implement VCTS is not timely and has come without necessary groundwork,” said Narayan Prasad Bhandari, a trader based in Rupandehi, adding that they will completely halt ferrying goods if the government does not step back from its decision to make VCTS mandatory.

Similarly, NEFN has said that the government should implement VCTS as a pilot project for at least one year and implement the system mandatorily only after that.

“The government should not implement policies like VCTS abruptly and make it mandatory. The system should be implemented as a pilot project and the pros and cons of such a system should be analysed before implementing it in a full-fledged manner,” said Naresh Katwal, president of NEFN.

Meanwhile, the Department of Revenue Investigation (DoRI) has said that VCTS will be implemented as a pilot project till mid-October and will be implemented in a full-fledged manner after that.