On the first day of advance ticket booking at Gongabu Bus Park for the upcoming Dashain, Tihar, and Chhath festivals, over 24,000 individuals have reserved their seats to travel to their hometowns. The government opened advance ticket booking for long and medium routes from Monday targeting passengers going to their homes in districts outside the Kathmandu Valley and vice-versa for the upcoming festivals. The number of passengers at the bus park has increased this year as opposed to previous years, it has been said.
Ticket counters at the bus park have been crowded with passengers going to places like Darchula, Dadeldhura, Dhangadhi, Tikapur, Bajhang, Bajura, Salyan, Rukum, Puythan and Rolpa in the west and Taplejung, Ilam, Kakadvitta, Udayapur and other places in the east. According to Pankaj Malla, Spokesperson for the Lhotse Multi-Purpose Pvt Ltd, the operator of the bus park, 24,340 people received tickets on Monday, the first day of advance ticket booking. Aspiring passengers reached the bus park since Sunday night seeking tickets. However, ticket booking for short routes will be opened from Ghatasthapana, the first day of the 15-day Dashain festival, which falls on October 15 this year, said authorities. The government is at work to open road permits for traffics in all areas of the country for Dashain.
Every year, around 2.2 million passengers leave Kathmandu for their home during Dashain. Meanwhile, Lhotse Multipurpose Pvt. Ltd. has added 24 booking counters at the bus park in collaboration with transport entrepreneurs, according to Malla. From the bus park, around 1,000 public vehicles commute between Kathmandu and more than 68 districts outside on a daily basis, said transport entrepreneurs. Meantime, police has deployed security forces in plain clothes in the bus park area to contain the potential offences during the festival time. Senior Superintendent of Police Bhupendra Bahadur Khatri, the Chief of Kathmandu District Range, said such security personnel number above 50. The Range has set up citizen help desks at 14 locations in Kathmandu district under the special security plan implemented in view of the festival time.
