KATHMANDU, May 7: Two days after the government's decision to freeze bank accounts of all protesting transport entrepreneurs committees, Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) froze their accounts on Sunday.
NRB spokesperson Narayan Prasad Paudel informed that the NRB on Sunday has issued circulars to all banks and financial institutions to freeze the bank accounts of 245 such committees, which are run by transport operators.
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"We had already instructed the relevant authorities to stop making payments from the bank accounts of the committees but final and official circular was issued Sunday, so the banks will now freeze the accounts," said Paudel.
The transport entrepreneurs committees, which were operating as cartels, had launched protest against a government move to end the illegal practice. The government had earlier decided to scrap the registrations of such committees and ordered all bus operators to register themselves under the Companies Act.
NRB has yet to calculate the total amount of money held in the bank accounts of the transport entrepreneurs committees. According to the law, the government can seize the money in the bank accounts of the organizations whose registrations have been scrapped.
