National Alliance for Safe and Sustainable Mobility Nepal annual meeting and interaction program on road safety was completed. Representatives of Nepal's government, professional and business organizations, parliamentarians, campaign workers and experts  were participated in the program.

National Alliance coordinator Yogesh Bhattarai chaired the event, Dr.Pushparaj Pant gave a presentation on "Right to Health and Governmental Responsibilities in National and International Scenarios for Road Safety" while Govinda Bhattarai  International Automobile Federation F.I.A submitted  working paper on "Professional and Citizen Involvement in Safe Road and Sustainable Transportation" and  Various speakers had expressed their opinions in the document.

 

Vice President of NADA and CEO of Sipradi Trading Mr.Rajan Shrestha, Prof. Dr. Buland Thapa, Debu Parajuli of the National Disabled Federation, and Ravi Bhushan of  Nepal Engineers Association expressed their views on the responsibility of the state. Similarly, on behalf of the World Health Organization Sunil Pokhrel, Executive Director of the Intermodal Transport Development Board, Ashish Gajurel, expressed the view that the programs conducted to reduce road accidents are insufficient and that joint efforts of the government and national alliances and experts are necessary to address them according to the magnitude of the problem. On that occasion, Shivsingh Oli, a member of the Far West Provincial Assembly, said that it is necessary to expand this type of campaign at the provincial level, while the Secretary of the Parliament Secretariat, Dr. Roznath Pandey said that the results of the discussion will be helpful for prioritizing the upcoming plans and programs of the Parliament.

Yogesh Bhattarai, the chairman of the program and the coordinator of the National Alliance, said that the suggestions received from professionals, women's groups and experts will be a guide for the Parliament and the government, and the suggestions received from the interaction will be forwarded to the relevant ministries and government agencies, and he assured that the establishment of the empowered National Road Safety Council will be the first step towards that. The meeting formed a 31-member National Alliance under the coordination of Yogesh Bhattarai, a member of the House of Representatives, and Dr. Rohit Kumar Pokhrale, E. NASA Foundation Nepal has decided to form a working group consisting of Ravi Bhushan Jha, Umesh Dhakal, Ritu Bhat, Taralal Shrestha, Dinesh Pandey, Ruja Pokharel and Govind Bhattarai as its secretariat. 

The procedures, membership fee, goals and objectives of the National Alliance have been passed and the meeting has also decided to submit suggestions to the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport, the Ministry of Health and Population and all other government agencies by making the following decisions.

 

·        Formation of an autonomous and empowered Road Safety Council (National Road Safety Council) with the mandate to ensure safe traffic on the roads in the country by arranging for the Road Safety Act, which has been pending for a long time, to be passed as soon as possible.

·        To release the National Road Safety Action Plan 2023-2030 as soon as possible, which includes an action plan to manage road safety and to halve the number of deaths and injuries due to road accidents set by the United Nations for the coming decade 2021-2030.

·        To study and implement the reports given by the dissolved parliamentary committee, coordinate with the relevant ministries to comply with the existing government acts, rules and laws, coordinate inter governmentally with the federal, provincial and local levels, prepare and implement an action plan in collaboration with the National Alliance.

·        To restart the Valley Public Transport Authority and to make the public transport operating across the country safe, orderly and scientific.

·        To implement measures to make travel safer for vulnerable road users such as pedestrians, bicycle users, motorcycle users and wheelchair users.

·        To ratify important treaties recommended by the United Nations, including road safety, road signs and signals, vehicle standards and global regulations, vehicle inspection, and the Treaty for Transport Workers Employed in International Transport.

·        To make arrangement for issuing International Driving Permit (IDP) and Carne de Passe (CDP) according to the provisions of the United Nations Treaty.

• In order to protect the roads of Nepal for all users, the star-rating road recommended by iRAP and the star-rating school and the standard recommended by Global NCAP to arrange star-rating of new cars to be imported or manufactured in Nepal.

·        Instead of reducing the price when inviting bids for road construction, make binding rules for quality construction with the highest standards of road safety.

·         According to experts' opinions, to include lessons and topics related to road accident awareness, sustainable and environment-friendly travel culture in school and college courses.

·         To upgrade driving schools in Nepal and manage heavy vehicle driving training.

·         Autoland arrangement to determine the quality of passenger bus body.

·         To implement the rules of mandatory, correct and quality helmet use for motorcycle passengers.

·         To arrange road safety awareness for Nepalis going abroad for long term such as foreign employment, study.

·         Amending the Insurance Act timely to ensure that the victims of road accidents, owners of vehicles and all other types of road users are safe.

·         To prepare necessary structures and procedures to ensure rescue, treatment, rehabilitation, relief and justice for the victims of road accidents.

·         To create a roster of organizations and manpower available for the preparation and implementation of programs related to road safety including various aspects of transportation infrastructure and to make it mandatory to mobilize qualified and skilled manpower.

 

It expects cooperation and cooperation from ministries and related agencies in the fields of developing and expanding the functionality of all the members of the National Alliance, national and international affiliations, etc.