Hard times ahead for street vendors

DEV KUMAR SUNUWAR

KATHMANDU, Oct 18 - Dil Kumari Tamang, 75, came to the capital from Dhankuta district with her husband and son after selling their 0.2 hectares of land 25 years ago in search of better opportunity. With loans from other people, they ran a small fast-food restaurant ...

...they first arrived in the capital. But within three years, Dil Kumari lost her husband. Soon the moneylender seized her restaurant. Then she started selling goods on the pavement with just Rs 1000."I have no other option. Neither do I have the skill do to other jobs nor any place to go. My son is an ulcer patient although he is young. I have to feed myself and treat my son," said Tamang. "I have to survive on daily earnings and prices of essential commodities are skyrocketing every day. How can I pay rent and buy food?

Like Tamang, there are over 6,000 vendors selling their wares on the pavements of the valley since one and a half decade.

But, their livelihood has been endangered ever since a taskforce comprising local authorities and home ministry officials recommended that they be evicted from the pavement. The taskforce headed by Pratap Kumar Pathak, joint secretary at Home Ministry submitted the report on Sunday saying this was necessary to ease traffic flow on the streets of the capital.

Street vendors want the government to provide them an alternative space to continue their business like the 1300 street-vendors who were moved to Bhrikutimandap in 1992 from the pavement.

"It is a compulsion for all vendors to sell their wares on the footpath," said Janardhan Parajuli, vice president of CPN-UML affiliated street-vendors union. "The government has to provide them an alternative place to run their business; if it can't then employment must be guaranteed.

"Earlier, the best solution for managing street-vendors was to place them in Bhrikutimandap, but their numbers multiplied every year," said Dishesh Thapaliya, chief executive officer at Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC). "That was the mistake we made earlier, but we will not repeat it. Also, we do not have any empty-space and authority to provide them space.

He said evacuation of street-vendors from the pavements is the only answer for proper management of traffic in the capital.

"But, we also have proposed to the government stepwise programmes for their sustainable management," he said

According to Thapaliya, KMC has proposed a four-step plan for street vendors. They are - to provide them space on lease, allow them fixed time during day in possible areas and organise mini market on specific dates. But none of these steps can be implemented without government consent.

"There are complaints that Kathmandu has not been like Kathmandu, but it will be now," said Dhanapati Sapkota chief of law enforcement department at KMC. "We are not alone because we are doing this with the police this time. We are determined to succeed.

But only if street vendors are taken into confidence regarding whatever long-term solution is chosen, will people like Dil Kumari Tamang be able to earn their livelihood.

Add to: del.icio.us | Digg