By A Staff Reporter

Kathmandu, Apr. 5: Aiming to control crowd of people at the Kalimati Fruit and Vegetable Market, the retail and farmers’ market, running inside the market premises, has been closed down from Saturday.
According to Binaya Shrestha, information officer at Kalimati Fruit and Vegetable Market Development Board (KFVMDB), market management committee, traders and the local administration decided to shut down retail outlets from today to minimise the flow of consumers to the market.
“We have been compelled to close down the retail vegetable outlets running in the name of retail and farmers’ shops inside the valley as the flow of consumers increased at the market posing a risk of coronavirus spread,” he said.
The retail market was selling vegetables for the consumers by opening from 5 pm to 7 pm from last Monday. There are 64 retail outlets at the Kalimati market.
The retailers and the farmers who are selling vegetables from the market expressed their dissatisfaction over the government decision, Shrestha said.
“Our intention is not to affect their business. But, it is a critical time and the shops need to close to be safe from the virus,” he said.
Earlier, the government had decided to open retail market for two hours (5 pm to 7 pm) every day to ease the supply of vegetables for the consumers.
The wholesale market opens from 2 am to 7 am every day.
“There is crowd of people at the market which is a serious concern of the market management and the traders to protect people from COVID-19,” he said.
Stating that consumers were found visiting the market to purchase just two lemons, he said that there was no option but to shut down the retail market to discourage consumers until the situation returns to normalcy.
According to Shrestha, they have decided to ban the entry of motorcycle in the market during the time.
He said that they strictly instructed the wholesalers to stop the import of vegetables from India as there is high risk of virus transmission in the country from India.
The wholesales are importing vegetables from India even though they agreed to stop the import of Indian vegetables, so, the market management has directed them to follow the decision and cancel the order to bring vegetables from India.
There is no arrangement for keeping the drivers and their helpers coming from India in quarantine which poses risk of virus spreading, he added.