KATHMANDU, AUGUST 20

Hundreds of street vendors today joined a protest programme held outside city hall in Bhrikutimandap against Kathmandu Metropolitan City after the metropolis imposed ban on operating business in open spaces.

The street vendors who often sell vegetables, fruits, or inexpensive daily goods have been asking the local government to provide them with alternatives before forcing them to move out of their business.

KMC's police personnel are often seen acting ruthlessly against street vendors by seizing their products or thrashing them. The KMC has long been asking these poor people to rent a proper room to sell their products.

But, majority of such people lack money to rent expensive shutters in Kathmandu.

Today, protesters chanted slogans and displayed placards that targeted KMC's Mayor Balendra Shah for his lack of empathy against such people.

Rapper-turned-mayor Balendra Shah, aka Balen Shah who was elected mayor as independent candidate, had vowed to serve the poor people and uplift their condition during the 2022 local election.

Protesters chanted slogans and displayed placards reminding him of the promises he had made during the election campaign. The placards read, 'Who is there to speak for the poor, Chemeli,' a famous line from a song. Similarly, slogans like 'Remove poverty not poor,' 'Let us work to feed children,' 'Rich or poor dignity to all,' 'I voted for you Sunita and Balen. You are making me regret it,' 'Balen is getting fascist,' 'Liveable Kathmandu for all,' among others.

Mayor Shah has spearheaded various projects like freeing sidewalks from encroachment, clearing parking on footpaths, forcing out underground shops to facilitate parking, clearing dangling and useless wires from utility poles, among others. Many of these steps have been successfully implemented and welcomed by people from all walks of life.

But, forcefully removing street vendors without providing them with alternatives seems to be an uphill task for the city police who have been trying to clear the city streets from such vendors for the past one year.

A version of this article appears in the print on August 21, 2023, of The Himalayan Times.