Tilisara Thapa Magar of Chitungdhara in Palpa waited for three hours at Tansen Bus Park to board a passenger bus to reach Butwal on Sunday. As no buses arrived there, she approached a jeep driver, who demanded her Rs 700 to reach her destination. Regular fair for the route is just Rs 100.

Transport entrepreneurs have been bargaining openly with passengers like Tilisara in the district headquarters right in front of District Traffic Office.

Dul Bahadur Kunwar, district chairman of the Rastriya Prajatantra Party, said transport entrepreneurs have been charging exorbitant fare citing fuel crisis. “Public transportation has become too expensive during the festival season,” he said. Mahesh Timilsena, another local, said they are compelled to travel paying expensive fare. “We are forced to do so because we cannot walk to our destination,” he said.

Traffic Police chief Prabin Acharya, said they have been unable to curb such anomalies caused by fuel shortage.

Entrepreneurs said they increased fares in long and short routes as they are compelled to pay hefty sum for fuel smuggled from India.

They said they had to pay Rs 200, which is more than twice the regular price, for diesel. Deepak Shrestha, a transport entrepreneur from Sarlahi, said they have no any option other than increasing transport fare. “We are compelled to charge more as we pay more money to purchase fuel,” he said. Entrepreneurs said smugglers are openly selling fuel in the East-West Highway. They have been charging Rs 200 for one litre of diesel and Rs 250 for petrol. Raj Kumar Mainali, another transport entrepreneur in Sarlahi, said they are providing services purchasing fuels from smugglers. “If transport service is not available, people who came to villages to celebrate Dashain will be stranded,” he said.

Meanwhile, people in Parbat are also compelled to exorbitant fare even though they have to travel on the roof of buses.

Tilak Chhetri of Pangrang in the district said he paid Rs 350 to reach Kushma from Khanigaun, sitting on the roof of a bus. “We used to pay Rs 100 per person,” he said.

Buses and jeeps have been carrying passengers on roofs despite increasing transport fare. Traffic Police chief of Parbat, Bikash Timilsina, said they cannot take legal actions against transport entrepreneur as they reach Birgunj to purchase oil paying Rs 250 per litre.

93 accidents reported in Valley

KATHMANDU: With very few vehicles plying the road in the Capital due to fuel shortage, the Valley saw a decline in the number of road accidents during the Dashain festival this year, the Metropolitan Traffic Police Division said.

According to MTPD, a total of 93 accidents were reported from October 13 to October 23. During the festival time last year, 130 vehicles met with accidents.

MTPD Spokesperson Superintendent of Police Posh Raj Pokhrel said a majority of these vehicles which met with accidents were motorbikes, caused by either speeding or drunk driving. “There were very few vehicles on the road this time owing to the fuel shortage, which could be a factor for fewer accidents,” SP Pokhrel said.

He said though the number of accidents is dropping gradually, there was an increase in the number of people arrested for drunk driving. A total of 1,067 people were arrested so far on the charge of driving under influence during the Dashain festival. “Each day around 100 people were arrested on drunk driving charge on normal days while the number reached to an average of 125 people each day during Dashain,” SP Pokhrel said.

Among them were six drivers of public transportation, who will be charged in public offense.

“Although people are aware of the issue, they tend to believe that there will be no police checks during the festival time,” Pokhrel said. “However, we had deployed enough personnel in nooks and corners to curb driving under influence.”