Businessmen have been protesting over the tender process for shutters at the Butwal Agricultural Produce and Wholesale Market. Businessmen at the Butwal Agricultural Wholesale Market, which has a daily turnover of over Rs 50 million, are continuing to do business despite the agreement ending in 2067 BS.

After the Rupandehi District Court ordered the Butwal Agricultural Produce Wholesale Market to be operated on a lease basis through a tender process, the Butwal Agricultural Produce Wholesale Market Management Committee, which is under the municipality, had initiated the tender process. The businessmen have protested against it and closed the market. The businessmen are pressuring it to go into implementation only after the full court verdict. 

The vegetable market business has been affected after the businessmen locked the shutters and staged a protest. Vegetables, fruits and other materials are also available from the wholesale market in hilly districts where commercial transactions take place, including Butwal. According to Ghanashyam Bhusal, Chairman of the Butwal Agricultural Produce Wholesale Market Management Committee, while preparations were being made to proceed with the tender process that had been stalled since last year following the court order, some businessmen protested and locked the office. He said that now that the market is closed, traders who come to buy fruits and vegetables have been forced to go elsewhere.

On Bhadra 24, 2081, the Agricultural Market Management Committee had registered 267 bids with bank guarantees for the lease of 68 shutters. While the committee was preparing to open the bids and return the guarantee money of the participants who did not make it to the tender, the businessmen started the agitation by stopping the process, saying that the tender should not be moved forward without the full text of the court. ‘The court has cleared the way for the tender process to move forward,’ he said, ‘However, due to the obstruction of the businessmen, the tender process has now been stopped again, the businessmen are in agitation.’ He said that the businessmen have been going to court and protesting repeatedly, demanding the continuation of the previous contract agreement. 

Earlier, Santosh Agrahari of the Lumbini Fruit and Vegetable Businessmen Association and others had filed a case in the court demanding the continuation of the previous contract. However, the case was dismissed by a single bench of Judge Ashokumar Basnet on Thursday, and the stalled tender process was moved forward. The committee had signed an agreement with the vegetable and fruit businessmen for 10 years in 2067 BS. After the agreement expired in Bhadra 2077 BS, the Agriculture Market Promotion Center of the Ministry of Agriculture and the Butwal Sub-metropolitan City had directed the board of directors to start the process of renting out shutters. However, there were delays due to COVID-19 and other reasons.