Himalayan News Service

Janakpurdham, February 5

Hundreds of vegetable sellers, who had been earning their livelihood by selling fresh vegetables to commuters on the East-West highway, have been displaced due to untimely security checks, curfew and natural calamities that stop the buses. Fruits and vegetables rot away before they get any customer.

Nasid Yadav, a local, said that he used to earn some profit by selling vegetables bought from the local market, but with tight security checks have stopped customers from buying anything from them, as they have to open all their bags for security checks. This has forced local vegetable sellers to opt for alternative jobs.

This has adversely affected farmers too. Vegetables used to fetch good prices before. But now, the situation has altered for the worse, Yadav said.

Farmers have been compelled to sell their products at a very low cost, another businessman Pramod Chaudhary disclosed.

The buses that ply on the highway used to stop in these stops for hours and business was good. But since buses now have to wait for hours for security checks, they usually hurry along.

Naktakjih, Sakhuwa, Mahendranagar, Bhuchakrapur, Shantipur, Bateshwor, Pushpawalpur, Dhalkebar, Bengadawar and Laxminiwas are taken as chief areas for vegetable cultivation in Dhanusha. Farmers in these areas earn well through vegetable farming and vegetables are even transported to Kathmandu and Pokhara for consumption via buses. But now it is impossible to load vegetables on buses.

Hari Narayan Mahato, ex-VDC chairman of Dhalkebar VDC, said, "The closure of vegetable market has been like a curse to farmers. It is expensive to transport green vegetables on trucks and buses take a long time to reach, which leaves the vegetables uneatable."