Himalayan News Service

Kathmandu, March 3:

A showdown seems to be brewing between the Sajha Yatayat that runs the city bus service and the private group, Mid-Valley Bus Entrepreneurs Association. The latter has requested the government not to give permits for new routes to any organisation or individual wanting to run buses under the umbrella of Sajha Yatayat. “Our association will not accept the blue books of vehicles of any such organisation or individual,” said association president Punya Lal Pradhan in a letter to the chief of the Bagmati Zonal Transport Management Office. In his letter, Pradhan said if Sajha was keen to run city service it should have its own buses. “Sajha Yatayat cannot work as a broker organisation, selling its name to any individual or organisation,” adding that all transport entrepreneurs in the Valley were opposed to that.

Executive director of Sajha Yatayat, Mukunda Raj Satyal, countered Sajha was using its old routes and that the routes were provided not just for Sajha alone. “On one hand, they oppose. On the other, many of them have applied for permits to run the buses too,” he said, adding that Sajha had every right to manage public transport.