Electric vehicles meant to boost Lumbini tourism lie idle

Political wrangling, staffing issues, and unclear operational rules blamed for grounding.

Five years after they were imported to transform tourism in the Buddhist circuit, the fate of the electric buses gifted to the Lumbini Development Trust (LDT) remains in limbo. Following a brief two-day operation triggered by a directive from the Prime Minister’s Office, five state-of-the-art electric buses have once again been grounded, currently sitting idle on premises of the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) premises at Gautam Buddha International Airport in Bhairahawa.