Tanga (a light horse-drawn carriage) operators have halted their service at Nepal-India border point in the south of Gulariya saying that Indian forests guards demanded bribe from them.
Tanga (a light horse-drawn carriage) operators have halted their service at Nepal-India border point in the south of Gulariya saying that Indian forests guards demanded bribe from them.
Rais Ahammad Siddhiki, chairman of the Tanga Workers’ Union, said they halted the service as Indian forest guards at Murtiha Range Post in India reportedly asked them Rs 1,500 per month as bribe.
Nepalis going to India or returning home travel on the Tangas in an area covering around three kilometres in Nepal four kilometres of forest area in India. “They (forest guards) threatened to jail us if we failed to bribe them,” Siddhiki said.Another Tanga operator Iraj Ali said an Indian forest guard locked up one of their colleagues for two days for refusing to obey his order to help him start a vehicle belonging to the range post. “He was released after paying IRs 1100,” he said.
Kallu Rain, chairman of the Tanga Operator’s Association, said the forest guards bannned Tanga
operation on Katamiaghat Wildlife Sanctuary after ‘they stood against the injustice’. Meanwhile, travellers in the area are finding it hard to go to India or return to Nepal after the Tanga services came to a grinding halt.
The union representatives said they also requested Chief District Officer Tej Prasad Poudel to resolve the matter. They said Poudel has promised to consult Indian authorities on the matter.
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