The High Court, Tulsipur Butwal Bench has issued an injunction for the operation of electric buses and vans that have been stalled for four and a half years in Lumbini within a month. Showing legal difficulties, 5 buses with 19 seat capacity and 14 vans with 5 seat capacity, which were provided by Lumbini Development Fund and Transport Management Office, Butwal free of charge in November 2077, are lying idle.

After the bus is not operational, the charging station with solar panels built at a cost of Rs.

The air-conditioned, attractive, convenient and disabled-friendly bus-van brought for tourists coming to Lumbini through Belhia of Gautam Buddha International Airport and Sunauli Naka has been stuck for four and a half years due to lack of operation for a long time. 

Buses and vans are looking old and dirty while parked in the parking lot. 19 electric vehicles were provided to the Lumbini Development Fund at a cost of more than three million rupees through the Asian Development Bank (ADB) grant on November 9, 2077, in order to connect Buddha's birthplace Lumbini and Buddha's place Tilaurakot, Ramgram, Devdah and other areas related to Buddha, to facilitate tourist traffic in those areas and to make Lumbini pollution-free.  The bus-vans provided to the fund by the

project through the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation of the Federal Government came with government (white) number plates. Lumbini Development Fund was forced to operate buses and vans free of charge after being registered on white number plates. But as the operating cost was high and the fund could not manage it, efforts were started to make the number plates of both buses and vans green.

After a long process and efforts, on 6th June 2081, the Ministerial Council meeting of the provincial government directed Lumbini Province to make the number plates of buses and vans green.

Tourism professionals and stakeholders are hopeful that electric buses and vans will be operated after the court order. Meghnath Acharya, a member of the Lumbini Bachau Sangharsh Samiti, said that keeping the subsidized vehicles brought by the Lumbini Development Fund to serve the people in the open is causing damage to the state's property.

After showing indifference from the state in the operation of the vehicles that came free of charge with the help of donors for the convenience of tourists, Acharya approached the High Court demanding an order for the operation. Hearing his writ, the High Court Tulsipur Butwal bench ordered on Chait 11 to complete the necessary process within one month and change the number plate and arrange the vehicle operation. 

"Although the Lumbini Development Fund had prepared a draft of the report and procedure in 2079, the vehicles were stuck because the number plates were not changed," Acharya said. A mandate has been issued to convert vehicles into green number plates and operate them for tourism purposes within one month. 

Lumbini Provincial Government, Ministry of Transport Management, Lumbini Development Fund, Transport Management Office Butwal and District Administration Office Rupandehi were also registered as opponents.

According to Akram Khan, the coordinator of the Lumbini Rescue Campaign, the number plate should be changed as per the consent of the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, the decision of the Lumbini Provincial Government and the instructions of the Public Accounts Committee, but the Transport Management Office, Butwal did not implement it. "Now tourist buses operate in Lumbini," he said. With the help of ADB, a charging station connected with solar panels has also been constructed in Lumbini at a cost of 139 million rupees. But since the vehicle is not operational, the charging station is also stuck. 

Tires and batteries of some vehicles that have been stored after being unused and not charged regularly have also deteriorated. Dhundiraj (Siddhicharan) Bhattarai, the treasurer of Lumbini  development fund, said that since the court has issued a mandate by specifying a clear legal basis and time limit, now the way for the operation of electric vehicles for Lumbini is open. 

"We have prepared a draft of the modality of operation, now we will immediately finalize it and pass it in the meeting of the board of directors," he said. Now tourist vehicles will be running soon.

He said that vehicles with white plates cannot be used for purposes other than government work and it took four years to turn the white plates green. Air-conditioned, disabled-friendly and automatic-door buses and vans also have card-based fare payment facilities. It is claimed that it can travel up to 400 kilometers after charging once.