Street vendors have expressed serious dissatisfaction over the government’s failure to fulfill their demands which include providing them with alternative vending zones and fixing a suitable time for them to operate their business.

The vendors have said the committee formed by the government to address their demands only complicated the problem faced by the evicted vendors already in the brink of losing their means of livelihood. According to Kumar Sapkota, chairperson at Nepal Self-employment Trade Workers Association, lack of interest shown by the government to relocate the vendors to preferable places has stoked anger among the street vendors. “The committee was formed just to submit a report to the government and wipe our (street vendors’) existence. No decisions have been made for our welfare,” said Sapkota.

Three weeks ago, evicted street vendors in Kathmandu had refused to set up their business on the space designated by the government, arguing that the Home Ministry had set several conditions that would trouble them in the long run. The ministry had proposed that the street vendors could operate their business on the designated zones for only a year, and told them to find other alternative means to earn their livelihood after the period. Sapkota said that it was not possible for the vendors to find alterative sources of income within such a short duration.

“The government’s proposal is not practical at all. We want a permanent solution from the government,” he said. The street vendors have also protested the proposed size of the vending area (4x5 feet) set by the government and the prohibition on street vendors from hiring porters to transport their merchandise.

The street vendors have demanded for permission to run their businesses in the morning and the evening time during weekdays, and throughout the day during weekends and public holidays. They have also demanded the government to take the initiative to manage the street vendors in Kathmandu by creating alternative business zones accessible from their areas and facilitate them with proper utility services and security.

After the government expelled the street vendors from the sidewalks and public spaces of Kathmandu in January, they had launched a series of protests demanding for an alternative areas where they could operate their business.

Published on: 10 June 2014 | Kantipur