Kathmandu, January 4

The 39th executive meeting of Kathmandu Metropolitan City yesterday has tasked all its wards with the responsibility of removing all the street vendors and other businesses set up on city roads and footpaths.

The decision comes in the wake of rampant encroachment of roads and sidewalks, reads a press release issued by the metropolis.

Auto workshops, street vendors and petrol pumps have encroached the roads and sidewalks causing great difficulty for traffic movement and mobility of pedestrians.

With the decision of the KMC executive, the wards will take action against people dumping construction materials on roads and footpaths. Such encroachment has not only hindered hassle-free mobility of pedestrians and traffic movement but has also ruined the beauty of the city.

Municipal Police By-law of KMC has prescribed 29 different functions, duties and powers of the municipal police. They have been tasked with removing obstruction on footpaths and roads, preventing encroachment of public places, issuing order to demolish structures constructed in contravention of the prescribed standards, catching and auctioning stray cattle, stopping sale and distribution of food items unfit for human consumption, controlling social malpractices and protecting the assets of local levels, among other things.

According to Metropolitan Traffic Police Division, footpath encroachment on major as well as inner roads is contributing to traffic congestion and road accidents. Pedestrians have no option but to walk on the road putting their lives at risk. Pedestrians spilling over into the roads due to encroachment of footpaths is a common sight across the city.

But city authorities have largely failed to keep vendors and other businesses off the sidewalks. Footpaths are often occupied by small businesses where they don’t pay any fee. If caught, the municipal police confiscates the wares from vendors and fines them Rs 500 before returning their goods. The fine is increased up to

Rs 1,500 for second or third time offenders. People’s attraction towards cheap goods has also encouraged street vendors to set up stalls on footpaths and roads, say traffic police

officials.

District administration office may impose a fine ranging from Rs 10,000 to 50,000 or award a jail sentence up to three months or both on an offender under Section 30 of the Solid Waste Management Act, 2011.