On the side

Sah added that simply providing an alternative location or time for street vendors to do their business would be enough.

"As soon as the police spot us, they seize our goods. If they just designate a space for us to do our business, we'd gladly accept it," Sah said.

Rajkumari Gurung, 55, has been in the street business for 14 years. She sells vegetables and flowers. She too acknowledged the positive influence of the mayor's efforts to clean the city. But she lamented that the benefits of these improvements are not reaching the city's economically disadvantaged residents, who are unfairly being targeted.

Because of the ban on street vending, Gurung sells her goods only in the early morning and in the evening. This has hit her sales and income.

Despite repeated attempts by street vendors to seek justice for the harassment they face from the municipal police and strict rules imposed by the metropolitan office, nothing concrete has been done to address their concerns or to manage the street businesses.

Experts, urban planners and activists have protested against the municipal crackdown on street vendors, but nearly two years later, many vendors are still forced to operate covertly either before daybreak or in the evenings.

In a Kathmandu Post interview a few months ago, Mahendra Subba, president of the nonprofit Regional and Urban Planners' Society of Nepal, highlighted the significance of street vendors for the economy of urban areas. He said that many countries in and outside Asia have a lively space for street vendors to do their business with minimal interference.