The District Administration Office, Kathmandu has stressed that government vehicles cannot be used on a public holiday without a pass.
The office has issued a statement on Monday over the issue of Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC) Mayor Balen Shah threatening to set the Singha Durbar on fire after the traffic police stopped a KMC vehicle carrying his wife on Saturday.
The office has pointed that there have been savings owing to fall in use of government vehicles for personal purpose due to the ban on using government vehicles on a public holiday, and added that there is a clear provision for acquiring vehicle pass from the authorities concerned if a government vehicle needs to be used on a public holiday.
Stating that the local administration continuously works under instruction of the Home Ministry, the office has also requested everyone to not obstruct staffers who are carrying out duty, and not resort to making statements and posting on the social media about those doing duty to enforce the laws.
Traffic police on duty had stopped the KMC vehicle going toward Koteshwore from Balkumari at around nine Saturday night and asked the driver about permission to use government vehicle on a public holiday, according to the Kathmandu Valley Traffic Police Office.
Mayor Shah vented his ire on the social media over that later in the night. “Nothing happened for today. But if any of our KMC vehicles are stopped by the government from tomorrow, I will set the Singha Durbar on fire. Remember, thief government,” Shah posted on the social media Saturday night itself threatening to torch the administrative center of the federal government.
Mayor Shah phoned Kathmandu Chief District Officer (CDO) Jitendra Basnet Saturday night itself after the vehicle carrying his wife was stopped, and also inquired why the KMC vehicle was stopped and checked.
Mayos Shah’s secretariat issued a statement Sunday afternoon and claimed that traffic police behaved aggressively with his wife Saturday night.
The statement issued by Shah’s personal secretary Bhup Dev Shah stated that Mayor Shah’s wife Sabina Kafle was returning after breastfeeding their baby kept at NICU.
Kafle had given birth to a baby girt at Nepal Mediciti Hospital on August 25.
The statement acknowledged that traffic police on duty stopped the vehicle and asked the driver about permission to use government vehicle on a public holiday. It added that the driver identified himself and revealed the identity of Mayor Shah, and replied that the vehicle had such permit allowing use on a public holiday but it was not in the vehicle at the time.
The Kathmandu District Administration Office has since clarified that such pass allowing use of Mayor Shah’s vehicle on Saturday was not acquired.
The statement issued by Mayor Shah’s secretariat also claimed that the traffic police did not even show minimum human sympathy toward a postpartum mother returning after breastfeeding her baby at the NICU of a hospital, and added that the traffic police started to act more aggressively after knowing her identity, and condemns such rude acts.
The statement, however, did not mention about the social media post of Mayor Shah where he threatened to torch the Singha Durbar.
