Metropolitan Traffic Police Division booked 502 traffic rule violators and 98 ticket scalpers in the past five days.

The division has implemented a special security plan for the Dashain festival. As part of the plan, the division has increased the presence of traffic officers on the streets of Kathmandu Valley to enforce traffic rules and rein in ticket scalping.

The division chief, SSP Bhim Prasad Dhakal, told the Post on Thursday that the traffic police has adopted special surveillance measures to discourage frauds who have long been fleecing the festival passengers.

But despite the division’s claim of putting strict measures in place to curb ticket frauds, ticket scalpers are still operating in the cloak of passengers, according to some ticket sellers at Naya Bus Park in Gongabu.

“Some people have been buying several tickets at once and selling them at a high price. When a person comes asking for multiple tickets, we cannot refuse him because there is no rule regarding the number of tickets one could purchase,” said an official of Namaste Rapti Yatayat Pvt Ltd.

When the Post inquired SSP Dhakal about the matter, he said that the division would look into the matter and book the guilty.

“We will mobilise our officers in civvies to monitor such incidents. Anyone found guilty of ticket scalping would be charged with a fraud offence,” Dhakal said.

According to the division, 367,968 people left the Kathmandu Valley for Dashain in the last five days. Nearly 60,000 tickets were booked in that same period.

More than three million people are expected to leave the Valley for this year’s festival.

“People started leaving the Valley from Sunday. The number of people leaving for their hometowns is expected to rise from this Sunday,” Dhakal said. “We are well prepared to handle the festival exodus. Our objective is to ensure a safe and hassle-free journey to the passengers travelling to their hometowns for Dashain.”

The division, in coordination with the Department of Transport Management, has set up 14 help desks in different parts of the Valley.

In a bid to reduce road accidents during the festival time, the division has upped the traffic checking. In the past five days, 354 people were booked for drink driving or MaPaSe.
“We will intensify the MaPaSe checking during the festival when more people are likely to drive under the influence of alcohol,” said Dahal.
The division is also booking long-route vehicles that do not have two drivers. The government has made it mandatory for long route buses to have two drivers to prevent road accidents.