Kathmandu, July 2: The National Assembly lawmakers have drawn the attention of the government to the need of making the transport service more effective by adopting the required health safety measures as life has been adversely affected due to the lockdown that is in place in the country since three months due to the risk of COVID-19.

The lawmakers, speaking in the 'special time' of the National Assembly session today, said that although the lockdown has been relaxed to some extent, the transport service needed to be made more systematic.

Udaya Sharma Poudel of Nepal Communist Party (NCP) called on the government to take more effective measures for controlling COVID-19. She also called for resolving the hassles associated with the issuance of special passes in the transport sector.

Stating that the risk of spread of coronavirus was increasing as transport services are not operating well and there is also the risk of workers losing their livelihood since public transportation is still not operated. The education sector too has been badly affected due to the lockdown, she said, pointing out the need of coming up with a solution to this.

Thagendra Prasad Puri and Parashuram Meghi Gurung of the NCP called for operation of essential services by the law courts which have been providing only limited services at present and for taking effective measures for curbing corruption.

Suman Raj Pyakurel of NCP drew the attention of the Ministry of Home Affairs for beefing up the law and order situation.

Call for an end to rape and discrimination

Nepali Congress' Jitendra Narayan Dev drew the attention of the government and the upper house of parliament on the need of ensuring the fundamental rights of the dalit community. He said incidents of rape were on the rise and the women from the dalit community were more victimized.

"Four thousand 940 incidents of violence against women have taken place in two years. Among these, more than 3,500 are rape incidents. Similarly, 26 incidents are related to murder after rape and among these 35 per cent of the victims are dalits," lawmaker Dev said.

He underscored the need of making the dalit communities economically stronger by implementing special programmes for improving the economic status of poor and vulnerable dalit families.

Mrigendra Kumar Singh Yadav and Pramila Kumari of Janata Samjwadi Party expressed concern over the continuing exploitation of the dalit communities and called for addressing the demands of the people who are staging non-violent protest demonstration putting forth various demands.