Hat Bazar obstructs vehicular movement

By Vijay Kumar Sah Dhalkebar, July 21: The road connecting Dhalkebar with Janakpur has six lanes and is almost always busy.  To accommodate the vehicles that ply the road every day, four bridges have been constructed over the Aurahi River at Mahendranagar.

Of the four bridges, the middle two are meant for large vehicles while those on the left and right are meant for light automobiles and bicycles.  However, two days a week, the easternmost bridge gets occupied by vendors who set up open-air shops on the lane where vehicles are meant to drive on. 

The shop-owners themselves admit that this makes driving difficult and increases the risk of accident for both them and the motorists. But they still encroach upon the bridge nonetheless.

The reason, they give, is the lack of space and management in the designated market area. 

The Kshireshwornath Municipality has allocated a specific area for the local Haat Bazaar, farmer’s market, which it provides to sellers on Mondays and Fridays for a fee. 

However, that fee has not translated into adequate facilities for the marketers, they complain.

Similarly, local Manoj Chaudhary said that the space was only designed for farmers selling crops. “But today, people bring all sorts of items including clothes, groceries and cosmetic products,” he said, adding, “The market has become too small to accommodate everyone and hence, people have encroached upon the bridge.”

Sukhdev Yadav, mayor of Kshireshwornath Municipality, told The Rising Nepal that he would take the initiative to manage the shops on the bridge and prevent traffic obstructions.

Inspector Bechan Yadav of the Area Police Office of Mahendranagar said that the municipality and its ward office were responsible for managing the market and informed that he had met with Mayor Yadav two days ago to discuss the matter.

“We remove the stalls but the vendors set them up again. We need to collaborate with the local level,” he said.