Minister Bhandari's surprise inspection in Kalimati and Kuleshwor; Vendors flee

Kathmandu, October 6 — Industry Minister Damodar Bhandari conducted an inspection of the Kalimati Fruit and Vegetable Market on Sunday. He was accompanied by the Director General of the Department of Commerce, Supplies and Consumer Protection, Rajan Poudel, and a team of consumer rights activists.

The inspection began at a fish shop in Kalimati, where cleanliness was found to be lacking. Minister Bhandari instructed for improvements and requested invoices, but the vendors refused to show them.

Bhandari then urged the staff of the Kalimati Fruit and Vegetable Market Development Committee to provide invoices and improve cleanliness.

The team, including Minister Bhandari, moved on to check potato stalls. At a stall named Tilak Suppliers, the minister inquired about potato prices and asked for invoices. However, the vendors claimed to have them at home.

Invoices revealed that potatoes were purchased at prices ranging from NPR 34 to NPR 80 per kilo, but they were being sold for over NPR 105.

Moreover, potatoes arriving from Bhutan were bought at NPR 77.80 per kilo and sold for over NPR 100.

Rajan Poudel questioned why potatoes bought at NPR 34 were being sold for more than NPR 100. The vendors suggested that the smaller potatoes might have arrived instead, but they failed to produce any invoices.

Minister Bhandari emphasized that prices shouldn't be high during the potato season. Arjun Prasad Aryal, the Deputy Executive Director of the Kalimati Vegetable Market Development Committee, defended the vendors, stating that they might not have had invoices today but could sell at lower prices.

Consumer rights activist Jyoti Baniya commented on Aryal's defense, prompting Minister Bhandari to ask, “What is your job? To defend the vendors? There are no invoices here, and the fish shops lack cleanliness. What are you doing?”

In response, Aryal stated their role was to monitor prices, maintain a website, and instruct vendors to keep invoices. Minister Bhandari replied, “We see what work you have done. There are no invoices, and cleanliness is poor.”

The team instructed potato vendors who couldn't provide invoices to report to the department with their documents and proceeded to inspect other stalls.

While there were vegetables at other stalls, many vendors had fled, and several shops were closed. Vendors were found selling without invoices at Ayush Fruits Center as well, leading the team to instruct them to report to the department.

Minister Bhandari questioned the Executive Director of the Development Committee, Mahadev Prasad Poudel, about vendors fleeing and the lack of invoices and cleanliness.

Poudel claimed they had been directing vendors to maintain invoices and price lists and stated he wasn't responsible for the vendors fleeing.

The inspection team then moved towards the nearby Kuleshwar fruit market, where most vendors also failed to provide purchase invoices.

Vendors claimed they couldn't provide invoices immediately as they needed to buy from farmers. During the inspection, the New Singh Fruit Center was found to have issued VAT invoices at prices different from those sold. Minister Bhandari directed that the shop be sealed, suspecting tax evasion.

As the sealing process began, all the vendors gathered and expressed their anger. Madhav Chaulagain, Vice Chairman of the Fruit Vendors Association, argued that all vendors were maintaining invoices but had suffered significant losses due to recent floods.

He said, “No state mechanism has supported us during such extensive damage. Now, they have come to add more pain on top of our suffering. The state has not even provided waste disposal mechanisms.”

Aamar Baniya, Chairman of the Nepal Fruit Vendors Association in Kathmandu, stated that millions had been lost, criticizing the government for not providing relief but instead exacerbating their situation.

Meanwhile, a large crowd of vendors had gathered, chanting slogans and expressing their anger towards Minister Bhandari, who had already left the scene by that time.