13 taxi drivers booked on a single day as complaints mount Added At: 2013-07-10 10:54 PM Last Updated At: 2013-07-10 10:54 PM HIMALAYAN NEWS SERVICE KATHMANDU: The Metropolitan Traffic Police Division has stepped up its crackdown on unscrupulous cabbies used to cheating unsuspecting commuters in the Kathmandu Valley. A joint monitoring team of the MTPD and the Nepal Bureau of Standards and Metrology booked 13 taxis for overcharging passengers yesterday alone. DIG Keshav Adhikari said teams have been mobilised to monitor taxis moving without fare-metres, with tampered metres, broken seals and defunct metres. “Cabbies refusing to provide service on fair-metres for short distances are also under our surveillance,” he said of the initiative to ensure the passenger a hassles-free ride. The crackdown on unscrupulous cabbies started in the Kathmandu Valley on January 13 in the wake of growing complaints against taxi drivers. Despite the initiative, commuters continue to be at the receiving end. MTPD statistics show the law enforcement authority has caught 1,551 taxis for fleecing passengers, and fined them up to Rs 5,000 each. Officials said cabbies tampering with the fare-metres to overcharge passengers topped the offence chart. If a taxi is found operating with tampered metre, the concerned driver faces a fine of Rs 5,000 coupled with a warning in the first instance to fix the metre. Traffic police refer the cases related to metre-tampering to the NBSM for investigation. The crackdown is aimed at deterring the cabbies from overcharging the commuters. “We have already booked 22.15 per cent of taxis plying the Valley for overcharging the passengers. However, we have still a long way to go to put the trend to an end,” an official said. Around 7,000 taxis operate in the Kathmandu Valley. According to traffic police, they have been receiving a large number of complaints against unscrupulous cabbies after the launch of an SMS initiative to protect the taxi users. Mobile phone users can know the correct fare by writing their source of journey and the destination they want to reach and sending it to 4321. Mobile phone users of Nepal Telecom pay three rupees for each SMS, whereas Ncell and UTL users pay three rupees for the service. The Traffic Police Control Room is tasked with responding to the passengers’ queries and ensuring that the accused taxi driver is arrested for investigation. Mobile phone users can also send an SMS to 4321 to lodge complaints against cheating taxi drivers.
Posted on: Thu, 11 Jul 2013 03:02:40 +0000
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