Jan 6, Kathmandu: Member of the House of Representatives and General Secretary of the Nepali Congress Gagan Thapa has demanded the repeal of the government's decision to make the affixing of embossed number plates mandatory within a month. Speaking at a meeting of the House of Representatives on Monday, Thapa said the decision was not practical.

He said that the Department of Transport Management has issued a notice to intimidate the people instead of reviewing why the connection of embossed number plates which has been implemented since November 17 has not been effective to date.

"It is easy to scare the people by paying a fine instead of reviewing why the work could not be done, but the Ministry of Transport has taken the wrong path," he said. The department had issued a notice stating that the embossed number plate must be attached by mid-July.

He said that the office implementing the decision implemented on November 17  last year did not act as per the instructions and the concerned office was intimidated without taking any action. He also questioned the agreement reached when awarding the contract for the work, saying, "The government will have to bear the financial responsibility if the agreement is not signed within the next 16 months."

In order to make up for this, the people are being hurt by not punishing those who are weak. ' Similarly, it has not been possible to attach embossed number plates to 2.5 million vehicles in the next 15 months through two or three offices, he said.

He said that this decision would bring grief to the people and would lead to a situation where people would have to wait in line for national identity cards day and night. "Even the connected service recipients have complained that the attached plate is not of good quality after paying a high price," he said. Attempts have been made to address all these issues and force them to move forward.

Stating that it plays an important role in national security, he demanded that the government reconsider its decision to install embossed number plates at a cost of five to six times more than the government should spend on national security. Thapa also said that the decision to impose a penalty in case of non-connection should be revoked and the necessary infrastructure should be provided for it.