UML STANDING COMMITTEE MEET Kathmandu, 9 Dec.: Opposition UML standing committee meets Sunday, The meeting will fix an agenda for Monday’s central committee meet, s top pry functionary said. The meetingisbeingheld amid a ontinuing oolitical deadlock. The party hasjoined main NC in attempts to topple the Baburam Bhattarai government. nnnn HUSBAND MURDERS WIFE IN DHADING Kathmandu, 9 Dec.: Hom Nath Upadhaya strangled his wife Pampha Bhusal to death at Aginchowk in Dhading district Sunday morning. Upadhaya, 34, killed his Bhusal,32, ad has been arrested.. nnnn INDIAN CONTRACTORS SHORTLISTED FOR ROAD PROJECT Kathmandu,9 Dec.: Three Indian companies have been shortlisted for the development of the Kathmandu-Tarai Fast Track project. The government will to issue request for proposal (RFP) to these firms within a week, Ramesh SHresha writes in The Kathmandu Post.. The three companies are Reliance Infrastructure, Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services (IL&FS) and Larsen and Turbo (L&T) Infrastructure Development Project. They were shortlisted among four applicants after evaluation of their expression of interest (EoI), officials at the Ministry of Physical Planning, Works and Transport Management said. Anil Ambani-promoted Reliance Infrastructure had also participated in two previous EoIs called in 2009 and 2011 for the 76km express highway project. “We are preparing to issue the RFP to the shortlisted firms within a week,” said Tulasi Prasad Sitaula, secretary at the Physical Planning Ministry. The government will seek technical and financial proposals from firms through the RFP to select one firm for the construction of the much-talked about project under the build-operate-transfer (BOT) modal. Ministry officials said it would take around four-six months to evaluate the technical and financial proposals. The fourth applicant, Gammon India, was rejected as it failed to meet the criteria. Only the firms having experience in infrastructure projects worth over $1,500 million or BOT projects involving highways and bridges costing over $500 million in the last 10 years were eligible to apply, according to the criteria set by the government in the EoI. Also, the bidder should have had a net worth of $150 million or more. The government had invited the third EoI in July in an effort to encourage international firms to involve local companies in the project as per the directives of the dissolved Public Accounts Committee (PAC). The new EoI allows local contractors to have a share of up to 10 percent in the total cost of the project in partnership with international firms. The planned expressway linking Kathmandu with the Southern Tarai is estimated to cost over Rs 80 billion. “The shortlisted firms will do an in-depth study and propose the size of the investment to the government,” said an official. The government has aimed to construct the route under the public private partnership (PPP) model. The contractor should complete the construction with five years from the date of the agreement signing. So far, the government has completed opening 58km track. However, track opening work on 8-km Khokana section has been halted due to land compensation issue. According to the ministry’s estimate, around Rs 3 billion is required for providing compensation to Khokana locals. Nnnn EIGHT-JPIT WORK DAILY WORK FOR DRIVERS Kathmandu, 9 Dec.:Nepal’s Labour Act has clearly fixed working hours at 48 hours a week (eight hours a day). However, this law is not strictly implemented. There are different reasons for violations owing to the poor economic condition of many people and the country’s high unemployment rate, among others. This violation in working hours is most common among public bus driver s. Among 10 Kathmandu bus driver s surveyed, all of them claimed to be on wheels at least 12 hours everyday, Traffic Engineer .Ashiss Gajurel writes in The Kathmandu Post. Driving a bus is a high-risk occupation. Therefore, in developed countries like Germany, France and Holland, bus driver s work eight hours a day and 40 hours a week. During the working day, breaks are provided in between two consecutive periods of driving, for food and drink, relaxation and socialising. Studies attribute 16–19 percent of total road accidents to fatigue and sleepiness. Driving is also stressful work. It can cause numerous health problems, including musculoskeletal problems of the back, neck, shoulders and knees, psychological problems like fatigue, tension and mental overload, stomach and intestinal disorders and sleeping problems. When driver s are not physically and mentally fit, traffic accidents are certain to happen. It is quite usual for bus driver s to have problems with disorderly and troublesome passengers. Nepali passengers tend to create problems by forcing driver s to stop wherever they want while under continuous pressure from the traffic police and other bus operators. Unless the driver s are fit, there is always a greater risk of traffic accidents. Therefore, effective regulation of bus driver s’ hours is very important. Drivers in Nepal must be protected from the demands of their bosses to work extra hours. Regulation working hours, as defined by the rules, must be effectively implemented to minimise the number of fatigue-related traffic accidents. Professional pressure aside, driver s in Nepal are forced to work additional hours to support their families. Nepal´s traffic data shows that about 1,500-2,000 people are killed every year in road accidents. Most of the accidents happen because of behavioural weaknesses. There are many cases where traffic accidents happen because the driver is asleep at the wheel or has consumed alcohol. Drivers often drink alcohol when they are tired and stressed. Fatigue and stress are normally results of longer working hours. Three major areas of policy are needed to be addressed in Nepal to successfully reduce the influence of fatigue on driving and safety—the overall framework of regulation and enforcement, specific provisions for hours of work and rest and research coordination to support and develop this policy. Above all, as is practiced worldwide, bus driver s shouldn’t be allowed to work more than eight hours a day. nnnn