At least 15 public vehicles have faced action for charging high fare to passengers heading to their destinations for celebration of festivals including Dashain, Tihar and Chhath. The Department of Transport Management (DoTM) found the vehicles overcharging passengers during a monitoring at Thankot, an entry point to the capital city of Kathmandu.
The Department acted on complaints that passengers are being overcharged taking advantages of the festivals, said the Department's Spokesperson Gokarna Prasad Upadhyay.
"In a case, it has been found that Rs 1,000 has been charged against the vehicle fare set by the Department," he said. Likewise, up to Rs 3,150 is charged for Kathmandu-Jumla route against the fixed fare of Rs 28,000.
Those vehicles found overcharging have been fined up to Rs 5,000 each, and the passengers were refunded their overcharged money, he said. However, many passengers heading to their home for the festivals are being overcharged for want of an effective monitoring.
"The Department has failed to monitor at all checkpoints from Kathmandu, thus passengers heading to their home for festivals suffer more," said a public transport reform campaign Ram Bahadur Thapa. More than 2.5 million people leave Kathmandu Valley for their home during Dashain, according to the Metropolitan City Police Division.
