The Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC) and social campaigner Iih have signed a four-point agreement Wednesday night.
Member of the KMC Executive Chini Kaji Maharjan and Member of Mayor Balen Shah's Secretariat Dhiraj Joshi, and campaigner Iih (Ishan Adhikari) signed the deal in presence of street vendors after the dialogue ended Wednesday night.
The KMC has agreed to return the materials confiscated from the street vendors to the respective owners from its store as far as possible. The two sides have also agreed to form a committee including those representing the KMC, Iih, the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport, the Ministry of Urban Development and traffic police to recommend within two months the process and legal framework to make business in informal sector well-managed.
The KMC has also pledged to take initiative within seven days to identify places other than legally restricted ones for those doing business on streets and the footpath.
The dialogue between representatives of social campaigner Iih and the KMC had ended inconclusively Tuesday night after the KMC stepped back from earlier commitments.
The KMC earlier had agreed to allow street vendors to do business at certain specified time at certain places until the Chhath festival considering the upcoming festivals.
“There was commitment to allow business at the places we proposed. The draft had even arrived to the vendors. But the proposal was changed once it reached the table of Mayor Balen Shah. All the efforts for dialogue failed. The doors of possibilities have closed. He changed the things agreed by his own representatives,” Iih told Setopati. “Mayor Shah has displayed such hubris and arrogance. Such leadership would be harmful not just for the KMC but the whole country.”
Iih added that Deputy Mayor Sunita Dangol had also given him assurances when she came to meet him earlier on Tuesday.
KMC Spokesperson and Chairman of Ward No 17 Navin Manandhar, who headed the team formed by the KMC for dialogue, claimed that ward chairs of the places where business was proposed to be allowed protested once news reports about the deal were published. “They asked why business should be allowed at their wards without consulting them. We, have, therefore, removed the name of places from the draft proposal. We have kept time for dialogue with the ward chairs,” Manandhar added.
He claimed that the vendors and representatives of Iih made the proposal public even as the proposal was being discussed.
Personal Secretary to Mayor Shah, Bhup Dev Shah, denied the allegations that the proposal was changed from the mayor’s table. “Draft is not an agreement. Conclusion of the demands was drawn. They made it public in course of discussion. This was the reason today’s deal could not be agreed. They refused when we sought a week for discussion,” he countered.
Campaigner Iih has been standing in front of the KMC office to remind Mayor Balen Shah and Deputy Mayor Sunita Dangol about their pre-election promises.
Iih has been standing in front of the KMC office since last Tuesday afternoon protesting what he calls inhumane treatment of street vendors by the KMC. Deputy Mayor Dangol met him after he clocked 165 hours in his standing protest.
