Roadside vendors of Changchey and Serutar areas along the Tsirang-Wangdue Phodrang highway can now sell their products conveniently from a formal vegetable shed. In the past, besides their concerns of sale, they had to worry about officials demolishing their temporary informal structures anytime. The Tsirang district agriculture sector constructed three vegetable sheds that can house 12 vendors.
Until recently, the farmers have been selling their agricultural produce from small informal temporary structures. They sell mostly homemade chilli pastes, pickles and spices among other agricultural produce. Some of them have been here for more than a decade. The vendors are now delighted with the new vegetable sheds which are spacious and have proper parking spaces for customers.
“Earlier, we operated business from temporary structures. Those days, the Tsirang District Administration often asked us to dismantle the informal structures since it is located along the highway. We even proposed to build better structures by ourselves but we couldn’t get approval. But finally, the agriculture sector graciously built new vegetable sheds for us,” said Tashi Dorji, a roadside vendor in Serutar under Tsirang.
“In the previous shed, our business was not as good as today due to lack of proper parking spaces. But the sale is better now since the present structures have spacious parking spaces. Even our products got spoiled by rain but now the problem is solved,” added Indra Maya Subba, a roadside vendor in Changchey of Tsirang.
“Earlier, we had problems selling our products from makeshifts during the rainy season and even wild animals caused harm to our products. Moreover, informal makeshifts were an eyesore for travellers since it is located along the highway,” said Rinzo Sherpa, from the Serutar Marketing Group in Tsirang.
“The new structures are spacious. The previous temporary structures built by us were not up to standard. We are expecting better sales now,” added Ran Maya Subba, also a roadside vendor in Changchey.
The district agriculture sector spent around Nu 900,000 for the construction of the permanent vegetable sheds.
“Firstly, they deserve a better place to operate their businesses and moreover it doesn’t look nice when they operate their businesses from informal structures along the highway. So the district agriculture sector prioritized the construction of structures last year to provide them with a better place to sell their products and to create better markets for our regular sellers,” said Dorji Gyeltshen, the District Agriculture Officer in Tsirang.
Meanwhile, the business owners are asked to demolish the previous structures at the earliest before someone occupies the spaces.
Pema Tshewang, Tsirang
Edited by Sonam
