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PM, Prachanda assure transport operators to fulfill their demands

Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala has said that the government is very serious towards the problems ailing the transportation sector and directed the concerned ministries to take necessary steps to fulfill the valid demands of the transport operators.

In a meeting with a team Nepal Transport Operators Association Thursday morning, PM Koirala asked the finance, home and labor & transport management ministers to do all they could to solve the problems faced by the transport operators, assuring that the "positive demands" put by the operators would certainly be fulfilled.

Similarly, CPN-Maoist chairman Prachanda has also expressed his commitment to fulfill the demands of the transport operators.

A team of the association had gone to meet Prachanda at his Nayabazar residence immediately after putting their problems before the prime minister.

During the meeting, the Maoist supremo said the transport operator's demands that include the government guaranteeing security to vehicles, transport operators and laborers and they would be fulfilled.

Meanwhile, normal life in eastern Nepal has been crippled by the transportation strike launched by transport entrepreneurs of the region putting forward 10-point demand since the past five days.

Due to the strike vehicular movement in the main roads in most towns in eastern Nepal including the highway has almost come to a grinding halt, affecting hundreds of people who have been unable to travel.

Reports say the towns are also are facing shortage of essential commodities as the agitated transport operators have stopped essential supplies from coming into the towns in protest. Similarly, the grade 11 exams being conducted by Higher Secondary Education Board (HSEB) from today has also been affected owing to the strike as the students have been forced to walk all the way their exam centers in most of the eastern Nepal districts. nepalnews.com ag May 15 08