The unattended issue of road safety in Nepal
The month of January saw major road accidents in different parts of the country, including Lamhi in Dang, Dhorpatan in Baglung, and Chandragiri in Kathmandu. Road accidents have been common throughout the country with Nepal Police data suggesting over 2,500 people dying in them annually. Despite this, the Ministry of Finance has shown reluctance to introduce the proposed Road Safety Bill to reduce traffic accidents, fatalities, and serious injuries, and enhance road safety. Instead, the Finance Ministry has asked the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport to include the proposed bill in the Public Roads Act. Along with that, the government’s initiative to pass dedicated laws on road safety and set up a mechanism, including the empowered National Road Safety Council (NRSC), to decrease accidents, has come to a halt. Keshav Kumar Sharma, secretary of the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport, says they asked for a dedicated road safety law that comprehensively ...