Kathmandu, April 5: There is no dearth of opportunities for enterprising persons in the capital. Ram Bahadur Pandi, 25, who came to Kathmandu all the way from Chakkar village of Dhanusha district, is earning his livelihood by taking rope, broom and other similar items from a wholesaler to various retail shops in the valley.

Educated up to class ten, Pandit earns Rs 8,000 to Rs 10,000 a month. He sends more than half his income to home. Pandit says he is very much satisfied at his job and it is better to conduct one’s own business instead of going for job hunting.

“As the conventional profession in the village is hardly sufficient to make both ends meet for a recount his tale of sorrow. In the beginning, he used to sell fruits from on a basket carried on his head but now he has purchased a bicycle and takes various articles from one shop to another.

Pandit says the money that could be earned by working as a watchman or washing dishes and utensils in alien land can be earned within the country if one works hard.

“We are not facing serious problem here. Somewhat more work has to be done but this is tolerable when we have to leave our villages to come to the city to work,” says Mahendra Yadav of Sunsari. He earns Rs 10,000 to Rs 12,000 a month by selling vegetables and fruits and sends home a part of the income. He further says “no matter how much one may each, one can hardly be content. but i am quite satisfied at whatever I earn.”

The exact number of fruit and vegetable vendors in Kathmandu is not known but their number is estimated at eight to ten thousand. Most of them are from Motihari, Sitmadhi and Madhubani districts of India.

The Nepalese labourers do hard manual work carrying sand, bricks and other loads and crushing gravel, but they think that selling fruits and vegetable for livelihood is inferior form of work. This notion in the society has caused flight of millions of rupees to India. Rajendra Chaudhari of Siraha says “I roam door to door selling vegetables and earn enough. So I need not go to money-lenders for self-sustenance, educating children and meeting medical expenses.

Chaudhari onece went to one of the Arabian countries and returned   home earning money to repay his debt. He says it is not necessary to seek job abroad to earn money. If one has skill, efficiency, initiative and will, even by running small business in the country can one earn money sufficient to sustain one’s family with dignity.

“The rumour that indians are discriminated against in any trade in nepal is not true but the metropolitan corporation harasses fruit and vegetable vendors time and again, seizes our cycles and baskets, imposes fines without proper receipts,” disgruntle Indian vendors.

According to them, the full amount of the money paid as fine, which should have been deposited in the fund of the metropolitan corporation, is not mentioned in receipts and vouchers and thus, consequently financial irregularities are taking place.

On   the   other   hand,    the municipal corporation has called upon the vendors to pay the amount of money as mentioned in   the   receipts   and    vouchers and see to it that these are duly signed.

When the vendors display their goods for sale at the busy footpaths, streets, lanes and chowks of Kathmandu, the means of transport are obstructed and the people at large suffer and as the roads have to cleared, this kind of difficult situation arises.