Containers carrying goods for Dashain stuck in Khasa and Nyalam for 3 weeks

By Our Correspondent,Sindhupalchowk, Sept. 6: A total of 93 containers that were coming to Tatopani border from China carrying goods meant for Dashain have been stuck in Khasa and Nyalam areas for three weeks.

Kamal Kumar Bhattarai, chief of the Tatopani Dry Port Customs Office, said that as China is constructing a tunnel in the middle of Khasa market, goods such as fruits and clothes, which are imported by Nepali traders to Kathmandu, were stopped in Khasa and Nyalam areas.

Businessmen are worried when the construction of the tunnel will complete and the goods will be brought in Tatopani border.

Traders are worried after 23 vehicles carrying fruits and 70 vehicles carrying clothes and shoes for 

upcoming Dashain festival and other goods have been stopped in the Chinese territory.

The Chinese government is building tunnels and roads to make Khasa a smart city. 

It is demolishing 50 per cent of the old buildings and rebuilding them. 

Due to ongoing work of tunnel slope, the containers stopped for a few more days cannot be allowed to come even to Khasa.

Ramhari Karki, president of Nepal Trans Himalaya Border Commerce Association, said that an initiative was being taken with the Chinese side to release the containers stopped during the morning and evening hours before the tunnel and road construction time. 

He said that the government of Nepal and concerned ministry along with business associations at the border were trying to bring the containers which were stopped in the Chinese territory into the Tatopani border. 

The goods being carried by one container stopped in Chinese territory is equivalent to three Nepali containers. 

When containers carrying fruits such as apples, oranges, and pomegranates are stopped for several days, the fruits have reached a state of rotting.

After the containers are stuck for a long time, the cost will also be high, said Karki. 

When the goods are delayed in reaching the capital, there is a problem that the consumers have to buy at a high price when adding the cost such as bank interest, accommodation, parking fees and others, said the traders.