Kathmandu, May 6
Some traders in the Kathmandu valley have complained police barred them from distributing groceries during the ongoing lockdown although the government has decided to allow grocery-supplying vehicles to operate.
“Police have confiscated my vehicles in Kamalpokhari and Shankhamul today,” Sagar Dev Bhatta, a trader, says, adding his drivers had all necessary documents that would allow them to transport.
“The police have said the prohibitory order has been tightened from today.”
Devendra Bhakta Shrestha, the president of Food Grocery Trading Association Nepal, also says the association’s members have been barred. “We filed our complaint at the concerned ministry, but it was not heard.”
However, the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies says the government does not have any policy of stopping grocery-carrying vehicles. The ministry’s Joint Secretary Prem Kumar Shrestha says the vehicles that are following the rules have not been barred.
“Not a single vehicle that has sufficient evidence to prove it is transporting groceries has been stopped.”
