August 24, 2014, 6:30 pm 
Tipper operators launched a protest programme against the government move to ban illegal crusher industries from mid-July.
However they have been claiming that the ban on crusher industries – from extracting stones, pebbles and sand – that failed to meet the standards have left them unemployed.
In protest, they have also refused to supply the stocks they have creating artificial shortage and hoarding, sending the prices soaring by four times.
They have around four million cubic feet of the construction materials in stock, according to the government.
Tipper operators today parked around 700 vehicles at Tinkune of Kathmandu under their first phase of protest. “Around 1,000 people have gathered here to oppose the government decision to halt the crusher industry,” said heads of the Tipper Entrepreneurs Association under the Federation of Nepalese National Transport Entrepreneurs Yadav Lal Shrestha.
The protestors have gathered with their tents, where they claim, they are living until the government revokes its decision.
They claimed that there are around 4,000 tippers in the Central region alone, at present. They also blamed the government for making them incur a daily loss of Rs 28 million as they have not been allowed to ferry the construction materials.
They also claimed that some 50,000 drivers will lose their jobs, if the government doesnot revoke its decision.
The entrepreneurs have made the consumers suffer and pay four times the price to pressurise the government in revoking the decision to ban illegal mines.
The tippers have long been ferrying sands from the river, which is illegal.
They are not only involved in illegal activities but also destroying the environment that will punish their children in the future.
Even the 18 crusher industries in the central region that meet the government-set criteria have announced closure to oppose the government decision, supporting their pals.
In April, forest minister Mahesh Acharya stopped registration of new crusher industries – until mid-June – to implement the new criterion. The government has fixed the places for the excavation of sands.
