I am writing this piece to acknowledge that the taxi service is very eccentric in the Kathmandu Valley. There is a big chaos in this industry run by a syndicate that is quite difficult to break.

I really can’t understand why taxi drivers neglect the person who is travelling a short distance and tries to pick the person who is travelling far distances. There is a big discrimination on the part of taxi drivers. If they find persons from western countries they pick them ignoring the locals.

I am not saying this that they should not give service to them.

All I am saying is there should be a proper mechanism to conduct the service so that will build the strong foundation of an egalitarian society in the years to come. The taxi drivers have their own association, which is quite good to protect their professional interest. But they do not follow the basic principle of serving the customers with honesty and sincerity.

They tend to overcharge a passenger without turning the digital meter on. There are places and time the taxi drivers do not want to go when a passenger asks them to do so. It is also quite difficult to find a taxi after midnight and even if one finds it one has to pay double the price compared to daytime.

After all, they do not need to spend more fuel at night. The elected bodies of the local level must address these kinds of problems facing the passengers who need taxi services.

Shiva Neupane, Melbourne

Fix potholes

Dream high’ has always been the most catchy trend among Nepali leaders. Dreams are so high that they do not meet any criteria in the Nepali ground context.

Some officials and leaders are involved in blame games of impish sort on cars worth millions, and some busy indulging in harangues speeches on ensuring their move to making smart toilets and cities.

Our news feeds are loaded with news and videos of a school girl on her way to home being gulped by an inundated water pit amidst ailing roads of the capital city. Always some unfortunate incidents take place that should get our leaders shaken from their envisaged world, which is again grotesque on retrospection.

The officials’ obstinate refusal to willingly consider the postulate and instead fly high in visions seems to be a major problem difficult to tackle with. Their proposals are delicacies to our ears but at the same time implies being a creator of huge deviation between contextual addressing and sprightly sprawled policies.

We seek to develop a bridge that connects us with their path to reality.

How can the chaotic metropolis be turned into a smart city when the officials cannot fix the potholes in the middle of the roads and open drains to let the rain water flush out without causing much difficulty to the pedestrians?

Sneha Rijal, via e-mail