Transport Management Office in valley sees surge in service-seekers number

Sanchita Ghimire

Kathmandu : The Transport Management Offices across Kathmandu Valley have witnessed a rising number of service-seekers lately, posing a grave risk of the spread of coronavirus. Although all the safety measures such as sanitizers and social distancing have been put in place for the service-seekers, only few service seekers seem to follow the health safety measures.

The Transport Management Office at Ekantakuna was found crowded on Friday. Altogether seven security personnel were mobilized for crowd management. License Office’s chief Sambar Bahadur Karki shared that due to the increasing influx of the service-seekers it caused difficulty for them to keep themselves safer from the risks of COVID-19. The office had regularly been conducting examinations for new license, and distribution and renewal since the nationwide lockdown was relaxed.

Karki viewed that they would regularly provide services if the service-seekers were aware and would observe precautionary measures. Nearly 400 people have been thronging this office on a daily basis on average for license renewable. Many of such offices have opted for even-odd number system for the service-seekers to ensure lesser crowd in their offices.

A total of 10 staffers have been stationed in five counters to distribute license. All the staffers have been regularly attending their duties lately, according to Karki. He argued that the serpentine lines of the people in the Transport Management Offices in Kathmandu Valley could be due to the closure of schools, colleges and other offices. “Those who had hardly got leisure time in the normal regular times seem to have come to the office to get the services,” he opined.

Offices such as inland revenue, survey, banks and financial institutions among others have been witnessing a huge crowd during this time. Although government has put in place health safety measures against the deadly infection, lax implementation of those measures is likely to increase the chance of spread of flu-like infection. If these offices were to implement digitalization and avail online services, it would hugely benefit the service-seekers and help mitigate the risk of the coronavirus.