Nepal

Kathmandu Metropolitan City has said it can’t compensate roadside vendors after seizing their goods or pushcarts. 

An official said the KMC office can’t compensate Sharmila Tamang, whose pushcart was seized from the Thapathali area on Thursday afternoon.

Nepali social media users have been expressing sorrow at the plight of Sharmila Tamang after seeing a widely-shared video – which shows the 34-year-old mother of two crying and wailing helplessly, worrying, “how will I feed my children now on”.  

According to Kantipur newspaper, the woman, a migrant from Lamjung, made her living and reared her children by selling tea, Chatpate and other stuff. After her husband disappeared post-Covid-19 pandemic, she became self-reliant with the help of her pushcart, it says. 

She had started her business after a Nepali living abroad donated money to her to buy the pushcart.
After seeing the viral video, many social media users have criticised KMC police and Mayor Balendra Shah.

Many of them demanded that KMC compensate Tamang and other street vendors whose goods were seized recently. 

Asked if KMC is going to compensate Sharmila Tamang, KMC spokesperson, Nabin Manandhar, said that would not be possible. “We don’t have a policy of returning a seized cart or giving compensation to the street vendors or any other businesses.”

Although KMC has seized goods from numerous vendors and shopkeepers, he said KMC has not yet returned any goods nor compensated anybody.