Packed like sardines, passengers take to roof

KATHMANDU: With Dashain bidding adieu, a large number of people, migrant workers and students alike, are flooding back to Kathmandu. The numbers of passengers bound for Kathmandu are far beyond the capacity of public transportation that has left no other option than to make a risky journey on the roofs of buses. The twist and turns of the highways has made it risky.

Although travelling on the roof is punishable the security personnel too remain mere spectators. The phenomenon is a common occurrence during festivals.

However, DSP Bikash Shrestha, operation in-charge, Metropolitan Traffic Police Division, maintained that the traffic were at vigil round-the-clock to ensure road safety. “We won’t let the guilty off the hook, but they should be caught red-handed,” he said.

Shrestha informed that no tragedies of the risky travelling have been reported during Dashain. Shrestha informed that the police could fine Rs 200 on the offense of ferrying passengers on the roof. DSP Shrestha also stated that there were traffic teams at News Bus Park, Nagdhunga, Thankot and Kalanki to curb the practice.

Meanwhile, a traffic police at Nagdhunga lamented, “The passengers and drivers pay no heed to our warning. They sometimes pounce upon us and scold us in filthy words merely because we urged them not to violate the rule”, he said.Meantime, Krishna Chandra Sapkota (24), who travelled Kathmandu on rooftop of a bus from Gorkha, said he had no option but to make a risky trip, as there were too many passengers and too few buses.