April 3, 2007
"Strikes in Kathmandu Boost Street Vendor Sales
By Tara Bhattarai
By late March, it was clear that the Kathmandu Valley had already bid farewell to the frosty winter and welcomed the scorching summer. In Sinamangal, a favorite hub for street vendors near Tribhuvan International Airport, about three miles from the city center, pedestrians walked down arid streets, unable to bear the stench coming from broken drainage pipes, covering their noses with their hands. Vehicles were plying down the road and spewing clouds of carbon monoxide and honking blaring horns.
Despite such an environment, forty-six-year-old Maiya Dahal from Dolakha, in the eastern part of Nepal, is earning a living for her family of five with her small street-side business, or Nanglo, named for the big plate made of bamboo where she displays the goods she has for sale.
"I have to manage the family of five from my earnings alone," Dahal said last week. Looking at her Nanglo, she added, "I sell cigarettes, mouth freshener, tobacco, fried beans, chewing gums and candies worth five hundred rupees. If the business goes fine, I can earn about 50 to 60 rupees a day (about $.80 USD), which I spend for rent and to sustain my children." Giving a smile, Dahal said, "But the income during strikes and holidays are lot better."
According to the calendar of a student Prajwal Gyawali that was published in the well-respected national Himal Magazine on 31 December, the Kathmandu Valley has been paralyzed by strikes for 99 days in the last three years. Strikes are often called by government offices, political parties, and activist groups in Nepal as a means to pressure the government and make demands for a variety of business and political interests. According to Surendra Bir Malakar, president of the Nepal Chamber of Commerce, the nation bears a loss of about $1.2 billion rupees, or $18 million USD, per day during strikes. For the street vendors in Kathmandu, however, the strikes are often a time of celebration because as larger shops are forced to close, business picks up for the street vendors and they earn more than their average daily wages.
According to the City Development Project, a project run under Kathmandu Metropolitian office, there are about 20,000 street vendors at 105 different locations in Kathmandu. The Nepal Street Business Association, NSBA, however estimates that there are as many as 30,000 such vendors in Kathmandu, 35 percent of whom are women. But street vendor and NSBA Treasurer Kumar Sapkota says those numbers are purely estimates as the Association does not keep any formal record of statistics.
"We street vendors make full use of public holidays and strikes," said Sapkota. During normal business days, streets are crowded and so the traffic police do not allow street vendors to set up their sidewalk shops. Street vendor businesses are considered to be illegal in Nepal because they affect traffic. However during strikes and holidays the street vendors do not have to worry about traffic and there are greater numbers of people walking on the streets, which allows for ample opportunities to generate more business. While Sapkota says that running stalls during strikes can be dangerous because of the possibility of attack by protesters, he says, "Street vendors are taking full advantages of strikes."
Gita Bhandari who also operates a Nanglo shop near the airport says that she started her business because she was tired of working as potter and daily laborer. Moreover, she said she had to starve during the days when she didn’t get labor work. She says starting her street vendor business was easy because the investment was low and she didn't have to worry about overhead costs, like paying rent. She says, "During strikes, the business is quite good. If average business is about 100 rupees during normal days, it increases by 4 or 5 folds during strikes."
Bishnu Maya Neupane, another vendor in the area, also gets excited when she hears about the strikes. "At other times, the businessmen of big shops torment us by informing metropolitan traffic about us. But during strikes we can do our business with ease." She added, "I had a good income during the people's movement last year."
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