Mobile street vendors in Kathmandu deserve respect for service. But, the local govt terrorises them

Gyan Bahadur Shrestha, a farmer rearing oxen and buffaloes in Okhaldhunga, came to Kathmandu with his family when he could not survive in the village during the armed conflict . For his work, he bought a second-hand bicycle and learned to ride to make his commute easier. And, even today, that bicycle has been the source of his income and has covered the daily expenses of his family and the school fees of his sons.

For the last eight years, Shrestha has been riding his bicycle from shop to shop, in choks and alleys, selling potato chips as a street vendor. Ram Khatri, who runs a shop in Baneshwar, regularly buys potato chips from Shrestha as customers are growing more fond of locally-produced potato chips in recent times. “Even though it looks like a business, in a way, he has been providing service for people like us.”