KATHMANDU: Five electric buses that have been parked in Lumbini will be operational from Thursday. Three years ago, Asian Development Bank provided five electric buses and 14 vans to the Lumbini Development Fund with a grant to reduce the environmental pollution of Lumbini and travel the Buddha Circuit including Lumbini.
However, they were stuck because there was no modality on how to operate those vehicles and the Ministry of Tourism had not handed them over to the Lumbini Development Fund.
Home Minister Balkrishna Khan gave instructions to bring electric vehicles into operation immediately at a ceremony held in Bhairahawa on Tuesday on the occasion of World Tourism Day. He directed the Chief District Officer of Ruppandehi to inform him about the decision to operate those vehicles by holding a meeting with Lumbini Development Fund and other concerned agencies on Thursday morning before 11 am.
Following the instructions, a meeting of the Lumbini Development Fund, local municipality, transport office, industrialists and tourism business associations held at Bhairahawa on Wednesday under the chairmanship of Rupandehi Chief District Officer Bharatmani Pandey has decided to put five buses into operation immediately from Thursday.
Chief District Officer Pandey informed that it was decided to run five buses on different routes on the initiative of the Home Minister and provide the necessary drivers, Nepali Army, Nepal Police and Armed Police.
Siddhicharan Bhattarai, the Treasurer of Lumbini Development Fund, said that currently, buses will be operated from Rupandehi border crossing Belhia, Gautam Buddha International Airport to Lumbini, Budh Mavali place from Ramgram to Belhia to Lumbini, from Butwal to Bhairawa to Lumbini, Lumbini to Tilaurakot.
According to him, the fund will also put 14 electric vans into trial operation from the 15th of October. Bhattarai said that the secretariat meeting of the fund held on Tuesday decided to operate electric vehicles for 5 days in the form of charging station and mechanical testing of vehicles on the occasion of Dashain.