KMC plans to solve street vendors’ trouble

January 9, 2003
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KATHMANDU, Jan. 9: Every evening hawkers and street vendors spread their wares on nearly half the pavement, causing great inconvenience to the pedestrians.

Unable to shoo them away, despite repeated efforts by the city police employed by the Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC), it is now thinking of giving them a place where they can carry out their business in peace. The KMC has yet to identify the place, but says it will be convenient to them as well as to the buyers.

Chief Executive Officer of the KMC Shiva Bhakta Sharma said that it is planning to manage the street vendors from a humanitarian aspect. “The unmanaged street vendors have negative impact on the urban environment and are detested both by the locals and the tourists.”

If that happens, the everyday cat-and-mouse game between the vendors and the city police could end. The scene of hawkers hurriedly collecting their goods and running to the nearest alley at the sight of the city police has become too common a sight.

Those who are not fast enough are frequently arrested and taken to the city police office with their goods. “We are fined heavily, which sometimes equals to our day’s and even week’s profit,” said one unlucky vendor.

CEO Sharma said the KMC would establish the total number of such vendors and work a way out to relocate them. “The KMC will form a policy only after interacting with the civil society,” he said.

The KMC, under the Local Self Governance Act, prohibits hawkers and street vendors from occupying the narrow roads and alleys. Anyone found with good in the streets is apprehended. The street vendors often complain about the harsh treatment meted out by the city police.

Sharma said that the metropolitan office would investigate into those complaints. Recently, a group of hawkers from Sundhara had met with CEO Sharma and apprised him about their problems.

About 10 years ago, the KMC in its bid to keep the streets clear had relocated the hawkers to the Open Air Theatre. The cluster of makeshift shops with plastic roofs gave the area a shantytown look. So they were transferred to Bhrikuti Mandap, which, unfortunately, has become an eyesore.