Kathmandu, February 20:

Speakers at a programme organised by the Collective Campaign for Peace (COCAP) today demanded the government to ensure rule of law in the country, accusing it of failing to control increasing impunity in the society.

Bishnu Khatri, general secretary of COCAP, said the government should ensure social, cultural, economic and political rights of the people, adding that Loktantra

was being widely misused in the current transitional phase.

Ram Chandra Simkhada, secretary of Consumers’ Right Protection Forum, accused the government of increasing impunity in the society. He also demanded effective implementation of the ‘Essential Service Act’ to control the anarchy created by business persons.

Meanwhile, Narayan Kaju, president of Nepal Revolutionary Students’ Union, said bandhs and chhakajams were political rights of the people, but such strikes should be organised in a proper way. He also called for scientific fixing of transport fares.

Speaking at the programme, Lekh Raj Bhatta, Minister for Labour and Transportation said the government was working out a policy to provide sufficient compensation to the families of victims of road accidents. He also informed that the government was bringing a new security policy to rein in protest programmes in the near future. He said calling bandhs and chhakajams was not the right way to protest as such strikes negatively affected people.