December 14: Public transport entrepreneurs have suggested the government to establish a competent transport authority for the improvement of public transport in the country.    
Handing over a memorandum to Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal on Wednesday, the transport entrepreneurs affiliated to the Republican Transport Entrepreneurs Association demanded that the government should resume registration of associations and committees in the transport sector, establish a transport directorate or authority, stop unnecessary tax revenue on public vehicles, register vehicles as per the provinces and set up training centers for producing drivers.    
The team led by the president of the association Gyanendra Shrestha also called for abolition of the five percent value added tax imposed on transportation. They also urged the government to include transport workers in the social security fund, invest in public transport and to remove the impractical traffic fine policy.    
Likewise, the transport entrepreneurs also requested the government to review the 20-year-scrap policy imposed on public vehicles and to allow vehicles to be operated on the basis of the 'condition' of the vehicles. They also demanded an end to the system of allowing vehicles coming from India to operate in Nepal without restrictions, according to Treasurer of the Association Purushottam Simkhada. -- RSS