Flower vendors turn roaming salespersons as Kathmandu bans sidewalk shops

Footpaths that would be full of flower sellers during Tihar are almost empty. It’s a different picture in Lalitpur.

Until last year Gaurishankar Mishra and his wife Radhika, retail vegetable sellers at Kalimati, would be quite excited around this time of the year. For a good reason. They could earn a little extra by selling marigolds on the railing adjoining the footpath. They could not do so this year, after the Kathmandu Metropolitan City banned footpath vendors.