KATHMANDU, DECEMBER 1

Scores of shop owners and business operators in the Bagbazar road segment closed their shops and businesses and staged protest in the middle of the street against Kathmandu Metropolitan City which had imposed a complete ban on parking on the road side.

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The narrow road in one of the busiest sections in the heart of Kathmandu, used to have single line parking on one side of the road until recently.

Only a few new buildings in the area have underground parking space, while open space is almost non-existence here.

The KMC, in a drive to clear footpaths and roadside from illegal encroachment has imposed strict vehicle parking ban in various places including the streets of Bagbazar, in a bid to manage traffic congestion.

After the ban on parking, one of the key business area inside the valley has seen drastic decrease in the number of visitors. Businesses and shop owners also find it difficult to find a proper parking area, which has forced them to park vehicles in distant places up to 500 meres away.

Businesses that require frequent movement are facing dire situation.

After business went down due to lack of parking space, businesspersons in the area took to the street and brought their shutters down in protest today. They said that it was unjust to ban parking without providing parking options to the public. They have thus asked the local government to reinstate the parking area on one side of the road.

The protest hindered vehicular movement in the area for over three hours, while traffic management in the adjoining road section was hindered for almost the whole day.

A wedding card printing shop owner Deepak Kunar told THT over telephone that 'no-parking' in the area had reduced business by over 60 per cent. 'It's the wedding season, but we are not receiving half the number of orders as we used to earlier. This is mostly because service seekers cannot find a place to park their cars or motorbikes to place their order. So, they find it easier to visit other places. A government cannot simply turn a deaf ear to our pleas,'Kunwar said.

Business owners said it was the duty of KMC to provide them parking options as they paid rent tax, income tax and business tax to the government.

A version of this article appears in the print on December 2, 2022, of The Himalayan Times.