Balen Shah, the mayor of Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC), threatened to set Singha Durbar on fire on Saturday night after the traffic police stopped a KMC vehicle carrying his wife.
A government-registered
vehicle was moving quickly that Saturday night between Balkumari and
Koteshwore. The vehicle was stopped by the on-duty traffic police, who wanted
to know if it was legal to operate it on a holiday. The Kathmandu Valley
Traffic Police Office's spokesperson, SSP Rajendra Prasad Bhatta, gave this
information.
Later that evening,
Mayor Shah vented his annoyance on social media, writing, "Nothing
happened today, but starting tomorrow, if the government halts any KMC
vehicles, I'll burn Singha Durbar on fire. Keep in mind the corrupt government.
The administrative hub of the federal government was the target of this
internet attack.
The traffic police just
inquired as to whether authorization had been secured for the use of the
government car on a holiday, according to Bhatta. Regardless of who was inside,
it was a regular inspection, and the vehicle was allowed to continue without even
having its registration number noted.
The driver asked why the KMC vehicle had been stopped, and another officer said a woman was in the passenger seat.
That same Saturday night, Mayor Shah immediately contacted Kathmandu Chief District Officer (CDO) Jitendra Basnet to inquire about the reason of the vehicle's stop. According to a source close to CDO Basnet, government vehicles are routinely inspected on public holidays, and the on-duty police are required to ask what they are there for. However, Mayor Shah didn't seem happy about it and seemed to think that such checks shouldn't be performed on KMC cars. Similar evidence later supported this position.
