KATHMANDU: The Metropolitian Traffic Police Division has stopped charging on-the-spot Rs 200 fine to jaywalkers following  the directives by Home Minister Janardan Sharma on Tuesday.

SP Lokendra Malla, Spokesperson of MTPD, informed that the Division has waived the fine, adding  jaywalkers caught red-handed, however,  still  have to attend  road safety classes of 30 minutes to one hour at the Division on the same day.

Home Minister Sharma on today itself has issued directives to chiefs of Neal Police, Armed Police Force and National Investigation Department to this end at the Home Ministry.

"Just imposing a fine on jaywalkers is not enough to discourage the trend of crossing road haphazardly. Traffic education is important and let's make people aware of it . The system of imposing a fine will do no good for anyone.", said Minister Sharma.

Stressing the need of making arrangements for smooth movement of vehicles by using available means and resources, he directed the traffic police to make details of the work plan to be carried out for traffic management in coordination among other ministries and departments.

Sharma added, "Resolve the traffic problem of Kathmandu Valley in such a way that people can feel a great relief as they had experienced during the ending of the load-shedding.

He opined for operating big buses like Sajha and running vehicles based on odd and even number plates in the Capital to lessen the traffic jam.

Minister Sharma further directed the officials to deliver the results which could be felt and urged the officials concerned to clear debris stored on the roadsides.

Similarly, chief of Nepal Police IGP Prakash Aryal shared that 250 chowks including Kesharmahal, Hattisar, Kalanki, Kalimati, Koteshwar, Satdobato and Maharajgunj were adversely affected by the traffic jam.

It is stated that traffic police were finding it very hard to ensure smooth traffic flow due to lack of required laws. The Valley roads do not have proper zebra crossing, traffic lights among other essential infrastructures essential for busy roads.

On top of that, drivers' negligence is equally blamed for posing challenges for traffic management in the Valley, according to IGP Aryal.

Likewise, the syndicate system in transport business which is said to be already ended legally, is yet to be put to an end in practice. Passengers have been hit by this system institutionalised by transport entrepreneurs, according to him.

" There is the immediate need that the State either by giving grants or taking other measures should promote the operation of large vehicles in urban areas and discourage people to use private vehicles so as to properly deal with the issues of traffic management," he asserted.

Metropolitan Traffic Police Chief Deputy Inspector General of Police, Mingmar Lama, said though an increase in the number of light vehicles had fueled problems in the traffic management, various efforts were being undertaken to cope with the adversities in traffic management.

Three billion required

On the occasion, IGP Aryal informed the meeting that budget of Rs three billion is currently needed to restore the Capital's traffic light system.

Traffic inspector Sitaram Hachhethu presented a report which stated that 52 four-wheelers and 81 motorcycles ply on the Valley roads per minute.

Home Secretary Lok Darshan Regmi informed the meeting that the government was planning to come up with a long-term strategy on traffic management.